The Kids are Alright
by itinerarymango
Summary: The sequel to Turn and Turn Again. Something new rocks the Shepherd clan's foundation.
1. Chapter 1

_Yeah. The sequel is finally here! I've got some big things planned for this story so get ready. Unlike Turn and Turn Again I will probably not be updating weekly. I have another story, Secrets, still going and I can't be as consistent with updates between the other story, my kids, my husband, and various other craziness. That being said I will continue to update both stories as often as I can. Please enjoy and as always…review…review…review._

The sounds of bare feet slapping against the hardwood of the deck alerted Derek of the stampede before he could see it. His eyes shot upward and braced himself for the impact as three excitedly children latched on to his body.

"Good morning daddy," they chorused.

"Oh, my babies," he exclaimed squeezing the children into him.

"Ewww. You're sweaty," Ainsley scoffed scrunching up her nose and pulling away.

She ran up the steps and into the house, followed closely by Jacob and Christopher. Derek shook his head and slowly followed them. When he stepped into the house from the deck, his eyes immediately fell on a familiar scene. Ainsley, Christopher, and Jacob perched at the island legs swinging wildly as they breakfast. Meredith stood a cup of coffee in her hand and her eyes locked on the kids, ready to break up a fight or fetch more juice. He moved around the counter and placed a chaste kiss to her cheek before settling in beside her.

"Go shower. People will start getting here at noon," she ordered pushing his shoulder lightly.

"I'm going. I'm going," he chuckled exiting the kitchen and heading up the stairs.

After a shower and helping Meredith get all the kids dressed and ready, Derek stood on the deck staring out at the children as they played on the playscape in the back yard. He could hardly believe it had been over a year since Ainsley had entered their lives. Looking at their family now, he almost couldn't imagine life without her there. He had been scared when it had happened. Ainsley had entered into a barely reformed family unit, not to mention the craziness that existed in the extended family, but somehow she had come through it. He smiled to himself and stepped across the deck to start the grill, knowing that the "family" would be there soon to kick off the summer and unofficially celebrate that Ainsley was now completely back on track with her age group in school. The sliding glass door wooshed open Mark came out with a baby carrier in his hands and Kennedy hot on his heels. He watched as she ran to join the other children. He set the six-month-old on the table. Derek nodded at him before thrusting a beer in his hand and twisting the top off his own.

"Hey man," Mark sighed after he had downed a swig of beer.

"That bad, huh?" Derek chuckled taking a swig of his own.

"Sean here doesn't like ferries. We had the joy of listening to him bawl for the entire trip," Mark explained pointing at his now sleeping son.

Derek laughed and his gaze once again found Ainsley who was holding Kennedy's hand as she led her carefully up the steps to the slide. Mark followed his gaze.

"So, she's on track completely? No more tutor?" Mark asked.

"She doesn't need one anymore, but I think I'll keep Mrs. Weston around. Chris will be in starting school soon and extra help won't hurt either of them," Derek replied.

The door slid open again and Alex walked through along with Jackson.

"So this is where the men-folk are gathering," Jackson joked as he grabbed a beer from the cooler next to the grill and fell into a chair across from Derek.

"At least until we're needed to the heavy lifting," Mark joked.

Meredith stepped onto the deck, handing Derek a plate of steaks before disappearing again. Derek threw the steaks on the grill before falling back into his seat. Moments later, Owen walked through the door and their group for the day was complete. They day passed quickly and Derek and Meredith were tucking the kids in what seemed like only moments later. Derek fell into bed next to Meredith and sighed heavily as he felt the day's activities settle into his body.

"What?" Meredith smirked.

"It's crazy right?" Derek asked.

"What's crazy?" Meredith questioned.

"A year ago everything was so unsettled. Ainsley was still living with her mom. We were barely back together, and now she's here, we're happy, everything fell into place," he explained.

"And?" she asked, knowing there had to be something behind the thought.

"Let's have a baby," he replied.

"What?" she exclaimed.

"It's just, I saw Mark with Sean today and I miss that. Don't get me wrong, I love our family. I love the kids, but I wanted a bunch of kids, and with Ainsley doing so well…" he trailed off.

"I don't know Derek," she started, "I don't think we should just jump into this. Four kids is a lot to handle and with work…"

"Yeah, you're right. It's not the time," Derek cut her off.

And with that the conversation was over and they climbed into bed, falling quickly to sleep.

_It's not super long, but I was trying to just get into the story. It is kind of a random start too, but bare with me there is a direction._


	2. Chapter 2

**The timing probably seems weird but it's just because I basically deleted an entire chunk of the real storyline when I started my story. I see Meredith as being at the same point in my story as she is on the show, so in the final stretch of her fifth year of residency. I really like this chapter because it feels like we are actually really getting into the story and because it was fun to write. I know there was some apprehension at the ending of my last chapter, but I have a direction and it will all work out in the end…I think. Enjoy.**

Derek stepped out of the shower and tied the towel around his waist before moving back into the bedroom. He slipped on boxers and a pair of black slacks before opening the door and making his way down the hall. His knuckles rapt firmly on Ainsley's door before he turned the doorknob and entered. Ainsley lay on her stomach in the bed her blankets twisted around her and hair sticking up in odd angles. He moved toward the bed and bent down lightly shaking her shoulder. Ainsley stretched and flipped over her blue eyes blinking rapidly.

"Hey Princess," he said sweetly.

"Hi," Ainsley replied sleepily.

"Mer laid out your clothes. Get dressed. Brush your teeth. Brush your hair. We'll get Mer to put it up when we get to the hospital," Derek ordered before making his way back to his room.

He pulled on a shirt and shoes and socks before running the comb through his hair and grabbing his belt, wallet, keys, and phone. As he made his way down the hall towards Christopher's room, he threaded the belt through the belt loops. He knocked on the door and, as expected, the door opened immediately. Christopher stood on the other side with his shirt on backward and a car clutched in his hand.

"Hi daddy," he greeted excitedly.

"Come here bud," Derek replied with a chuckle as he pulled off the shirt and put it back on the correct way.

Derek led him down the hall toward Jake's room before turning back to Christopher.

"Will you go check on Ainsley for me?" Derek asked putting as much false enthusiasm in his voice as he could muster so early in the morning.

"Yeah," he cried excitedly just like he did every morning when Derek suggested he do it.

"Alright. Knock nicely and just ask her if she's getting ready then come right back," Derek said firmly, knowing that Ainsley would be almost ready and would gladly follow along with the charade for her brother's sake.

Derek had realized quickly, the first morning he had tried to get all three kids ready by himself, that he was performing a juggling act. He had it down to a science now though. Christopher woke every morning bright eyed and bushy tailed and tried his best to get himself ready. Ainsley had to be woken early because she wanted to do everything herself. Jake on the other hand wasn't a morning person and was difficult to get dressed in the morning. On a lark he had sent Chris to check on Ainsley, hoping that by giving Chris a task he could focus on getting Jacob ready. It had worked amazingly well and had become part of the morning routine from then on. Derek walked into Jake's room and crossed to the bed, gently shaking the small boy's shoulder. The boy groaned and snuggled further into the bed, so Derek gently pried him up. When he was sitting, Jacob let out a whimper and Derek pulled him into his arms, walking him over to the dresser and placing him on top. He quickly dressed him and perched him on his hip before walking into the kid's bathroom across the hall. Ainsley and Chris were already there, Ainsley brushing her teeth and Chris looking on patiently. A few minutes later Derek was grabbing a to-go cup of a coffee and scooting the kids out the door. They finally pulled up to the hospital and Derek ushered the kids inside and then called Meredith.

"Hey, it's me," he said immediately, "are you going to be able to get them?"

"Yeah. Definitely. Bring them to the locker room," Meredith replied.

Derek quickly made his way in that direction with the kids and immediately spotted Meredith poking her head out side. He brushed a quick kiss to her lips and smiled slightly.

"They haven't eaten," he noted.

"Of course they haven't," Meredith shook her head with a laugh, "bye. Go save people."

Derek said goodbye to the kids before making his way toward his office to change into his scrubs.

"Okay Ainsley. Let's fix that mess you have on your head," Meredith chuckled, ushering the kids in to the locker room.

Alex sat on the bench inside and Jake wasted no time climbing into his lap. Christopher on the other hand proceeded to the nearest locker to investigate, and Meredith quickly shooed him away.

"No. You know the drill. Sit down until I'm done," she chastised as she moved to her locker to grab the necessary materials.

Meredith situated Ainsley in front of her and pulled her long, dark curls into a pony tail. After she had finished, she put the bag containing Ainsley's hair stuff back in her locker and stood. "Your daddy really needs to learn to do that eventually," Meredith smiled at Ainsley.

"He won't," she giggled.

"You're right. He's a brilliant brain surgeon, but when it comes to his daughter's hair he's lost," Meredith agreed.

They made their way down to the cafeteria where Meredith fed them quickly before leading them to the daycare. After hugs and goodbyes, Meredith left the daycare to head back to the resident's lounge to relax for a moment before she was scheduled in surgery.

"Teddy's doing something big," Christina said excitedly as she caught up with her in the hall.

Meredith sighed and Christina cast a strange look in her direction.

"Okay, what?" Christina asked, noticing that Meredith seemed distracted.

"Oh…what…it's nothing. What did you say? Teddy is doing something?" Meredith quickly replied brushing off the question.

"Right. What did McDreamy do this time?" Christina snarked, knowing that no normal conversation could take place until Meredith had worked out whatever was bothering her.

"I told you Derek asked about a baby," Meredith began.

"Yeah. I thought you were over that. It happened two weeks ago," Christina replied.

"I am…or…I was. Something has happened. A new development in that department," Meredith explained, knowing that Christina would more than likely understand what was going on.

She watched as Christina looked at her expectantly before a light seemed to blink on in her head. Christina's eyes got wide and Meredith nodded slightly to let her know she was probably on the right track.

"Wait. You're pregnant," Christina said slightly louder than she meant to.

"Shhhhh," Meredith hissed, "I don't know yet. I just. I'm late and the symptoms are there, but it could all be in my head. I mean. Maybe Derek's sudden epiphany made me imagine things."

"So, would it really be such a bad thing? I mean it could be worse. It could be the end of your intern year and you could be attempting to study for the intern exam while also puking your guts out…oh wait…you already did that," Christina joked.

"I don't know. One minute it's fine. The next I start freaking out. Four kids! Do you know how crazy that sounds? I never even wanted kids. And then surprise…Christopher. And then we got married and had Jacob, then Ainsely came along. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but four!" Meredith rambled.

"Maybe you're worrying for nothing. You could find out it isn't what you think it is," Christina tried.

"Yeah. You're right. I just need to get a test and find out before I start freaking out about it," Meredith relented, still ringing her hands nervously.

"Can we talk about me now?" Christina snarked.

"Okay…what is Teddy doing?" Meredith shook her head before following her down the hallway as Christina rambled about the surgery she would soon scrub in on.

**And on that note…a cliffhanger. Don't yell at me. I know some of you said it was too soon, but this little plot nugget, whether it is true or not, is necessary to the story. Hopefully I will have a new chapter of Secrets up by Friday if you are interested. Review! Review! Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**You should thank my boys for this update. They have been little angels today so I had time to finish this chapter and thought "hey, I'll go ahead and update." Tomorrow will be terrible I'm sure; the angelic stuff never lasts long. I like this chapter too by the way, it's a little tiny bit filler and a whole lot of amusing, at least to me.**

By the time Meredith finally had a moment to herself, it was already time for her to pick up the kids and take them home. Christina had run to a pharmacy during a lull to pick up a pregnancy test for her and it was currently wedged in her bag along with her miscellaneous mom things. She arrived at the hospital and was quickly bombarded with children and stories of their adventures and it wasn't until they had made it all the way home that she got a second to think without the chatter of kids in her ear.

"Chatty children," she sighed, "four chatty children."

She got to work throwing together a quick dinner and soon had the kids at the table eating. She was refereeing a fight between Jake and Christopher when a sudden wave of nausea sent her running from the table into the bathroom. After she had gotten sick, she sat on the tile floor trying to compose herself when a quiet knock sounded through the door.

"Mer? Are you okay?" Ainsley asked softly through the door.

"I'm okay," she called half-heartedly.

Ainsley obviously heard the lack of enthusiasm in her voice, because she opened the door and made her way into the bathroom. When she saw Meredith on the floor, tears began to well in her eyes, and Meredith pulled the small girl into her lap.

"Baby, I promise I am alright. I just probably ate something that didn't agree with me today," she soothed pulling Ainsley's small frame tightly into her own.

They sat there for a moment before Meredith's grip loosened and she helped Ainsley stand up before hauling her own tired body to her feet.

"Let's go see what your brother's are doing. Hopefully they haven't torn the house apart," Meredith joked as she and Ainsley made their way back to the kitchen. True to form, Jake had managed to completely upend his plate and was covered from head to toe in spaghetti sauce and Christopher was up from the table attempting to reach a box of cookies in a cabinet.

"Seriously guys? I was gone for like a minute," Meredith chastised as she pulled Christopher from his perch on the counter and scooped up the plate from in front of Jake.

She bid both Ainsley and Christopher to sit down and finish eating before cleaning up the mess on the table and floor around Jacob.

"Okay little boy, what am I going to do with you?" she wondered out loud, finally deciding it would be easiest to strip him down straight into the washing machine.

Just as she was emerging from the laundry room with Jacob clad only in his underwear, she heard the front door open and close. She heard Derek making his way toward the kitchen and waited patiently for him to round the corner. He immediately stopped as he walked through the doorway to the kitchen.

"Woah. Naked kid," he said moving to Meredith on the cheek and rubbing a hand through Jake's hair.

"Yeah. This one needs a bath like right now, and that one has already tried sneaking cookies. I'm going to go take care of this, so can you keep an eye on them?" she asked.

"Of course I can," he replied, moving to plant a kiss to the tops of both children's heads.

Meredith made her way upstairs and to the kids bathroom where she started to get the bath ready. She was leaning against the counter looking at Jake who was shivering in his half naked state. Looking at the three-year-old boy, she couldn't help but think back to just last year. They had all been so small. Jake had been two and she had still been calling him a baby, but that had since stopped at his own insistence. Christopher was five now, but it seemed like just yesterday that he had been toddling around on wobbly legs and now he would be starting kindergarten after this summer. Ainsley was eight going on eighteen. Sometimes she forgot how young Ainsley really was because of how independent she was. She sighed again, leaning over to turn off the water and help the young boy in.

"Maybe four chatty children isn't such a bad thing," she whispered quietly to herself.

Derek was upstairs with the other kids not long after she had pulled Jake from the water and he met her in the hallway after she had gotten Jake dressed and laid him down.

"I told Chris to take a bath and Ainsley is in her room reading until it's her turn," he explained, "she told me you got sick?"

"Uh yeah…I must have eaten something wrong or…something," she fumbled, trying not to reveal her sneaking suspicion.

"Oh, maybe you should be in bed then," he said softly his face showing concern.

"No. I'm good. I think I just had to get it out," she argued "you should go tell him goodnight."

"Don't think I didn't notice the subject change, but okay," he chastised slightly before heading into the door behind her.

Meredith made a quick stop at the bathroom to remind Christopher to rinse his hair really well before she walked into the room she and Derek shared. She quickly grabbed the small paper sack from her bag and disappeared behind the bathroom door. She knew that she should wait until the morning to make sure she got the best results, but she wasn't willing to be patient right then. The five minutes went agonizingly slow and just when the time was up, she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Mer? Are you okay?" she heard through the door.

"Ummm…yeah just a second," she replied, shoving the test into the medicine cabinet quickly.

Derek opened the door not a second later with a worried look on his face.

"Again?" Derek sighed.

"No. Can't I use the restroom without you freaking out?" she joked before pushing him out the door with her.

She decided she would just have to sneak a look at the test later and followed Derek to tuck Christopher into bed and check on Ainsley. It took almost an hour for them to finally get the kids all in bed. Christopher had requested several stories and a glass of water before they had finally gotten him settled and Ainsley, in a rare moment of disobedience, had been less than willing to lie down. When they finally made it to the room, Meredith had all but forgotten about the test, and she and Derek fell into bed. They lay there for a moment before Derek launched himself from the bed and walked toward the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Meredith asked, turning her head to look at him.

"Teeth. Need to brush," he replied, lacing his voice with faked severe exhaustion.

She giggled lightly, listening to the sound of Derek in the bathroom. The water shut off and she heard the sound of the medicine cabinet door opening. Suddenly she was on high alert. She held her breath, getting off the bed slowly and slinking toward the bathroom. She didn't want to seem suspicious if he hadn't found the test, but she wanted to see if he had. She reached the doorway and her eyes fell on Derek, his focus was on his phone in his hand as his other hand brushed rhythmically.

"Seriously Derek? You can't put the Angry Birds down while you brush your teeth?" she joked.

He smirked at her through the toothbrush and she shook her head as he placed the phone down on the counter. He finished brush and threw his toothbrush into the holder before turning to leave. Meredith let out a sigh of relief, at the exact time that Derek's eyes swept the countertop. Meredith saw it in slow motion as he grabbed the tube of toothpaste to put it away in the medicine cabinet. He put it down and suddenly his eyes crinkled in confusion. Meredith watched as he pulled out the pregnancy test and held it in front of him.

"Ummm…Mer?" he questioned, his eyes moving to connect with hers.

Meredith's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to explain, but the words stuck in her throat.

She was finally able to form a sentence, but not necessarily the one she was trying to form.

"Derek. What does it day?" she asked.

**Duh, duh, duuuuuh. Still a cliffhanger. I've been liking those lately. You may be saying "Meredith, why would you hide the test in such an obvious spot?" Well the answer is it went with my plan, but if you don't like that answer then she was in a hurry, or whatever else you may be able to come up with. The Angry Birds reference was a shout out to Jude. I'm probably biased as he is my kid, but that little three and a half year old boy is insanely good at that game. So…reviews are much appreciated and you should really do one.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I really like reviews. And I got a ton of reviews for the last chapter, so I was like let me see if I can go ahead and finish the next chapter and get it posted. Jude and Riley were like sure go ahead and neglect us so that you can update your story (not really though…I promise my children are not neglected) and so here you go. It's not the longest chapter, but I answered the big question so I'm sure you'll forgive me.**

Meredith's heart felt like it was going to burst from her chest as she watched Derek's eyes move back to the test. He looked for a moment before her eyes darted back to hers and the corners of his eyes crinkled in confusion.

"I never could tell what these said," he choked out.

Meredith felt like she was moving through water as she moved toward him. She gently pulled the test from his hand and turned it so that she could read it, but her eyes were locked on Derek's.

"I didn't tell you because I wasn't sure," she started, "I was going to find out and then tell you. I promise."

"I know, Meredith. What does it say?" he urged her on, his heart beating faster by the second.

She finally looked at the tiny screen and her gaze settled on two very distinct pink lines.

"Ummm…we're…uhhh…we're pregnant," she fumbled.

Derek looked at her with wide eyes. She watched as an array of emotions flew across his face before he finally broke out in a grin.

"We're going to have a baby," he gasped.

Meredith simply nodded with tears in her eyes before she found herself pulled in Derek's embrace. A smile lit her face and she sighed contentedly. She hadn't known whether she had wanted another baby or not until the moment when she had asked Derek what the results were. She had realized that, deep down, she hoped that there were two lines there. Derek was still wearing the same goofy grin when they finally crawled back into bed. Meredith lay against his chest listening to the solid thump beneath her ear until she finally drifted off to sleep. The next morning Derek woke early for his usual Saturday run. He slipped on his running shorts and a pair of tennis shoes before making his way quietly down the stairs and out the back door. As he ran, his mind drifted to the news they had gotten the night before. He had told Meredith that he wanted a baby just two weeks before and little did they know it was already in the cards for them. He fell into the grass by the lake where usually did and sat with his arms on his knees. He watched the water gently stirring in the wind for a moment before finally jumping back up and running the path back to the house. He made his way back into the house and was relieved to see that everyone was still asleep, so he took a quick shower and threw on some clothes he could lounge around the house in, before making his way down to the kitchen to start on the usual Saturday morning chocolate chip pancakes. Meredith made her way down to the kitchen just a half hour later and her eyes met his over the island.

"So…" she started.

"Yeah," he replied.

"I'll set up an appointment on Monday. Hopefully they'll have something open before the end of the week," Meredith said.

"Just let me know. I want to be there," he nodded.

"We should probably…ummm…keep it between us for now. Well actually I already freaked out to Christina so she knows, but no one else," Meredith rambled.

"At least until we find out how far along you are. I wouldn't want to tell anyone until we are out of the first trimester," Derek agreed, as his eyes ran over her form.

She watched as his eyes moved down to her stomach, settling there for a moment before returning to catch her gaze. He saw her cheeks tinge red and a smile finally broke on her face. He closed the space between them quickly and pulled her into his arms, planting a kiss to her lips.

"Ewww!" Christopher squealed from behind them.

"Ewww!" Derek mimicked, picking him up and throwing him across his shoulders.

He moved to the island setting him on a seat and returning to the formerly abandoned griddle. He had a large stack of pancakes ready when Ainsley finally emerged and Meredith went upstairs to wake up Jake. They ate breakfast amongst rowdy chatter before Derek suggested a family movie in the media room and they cuddled up to spend a lazy Saturday together.

**I'll go ahead and write the doctors visit and maybe some more beginning of the pregnancy fluff, but then we are going to jump forward a few months, so be prepared. Reviews are awesome.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm really, really sorry. I'm not going to go into detail, but just know that if I could have updated sooner I would have. Life just got kind of crazy for awhile, it's calmed down now though so I finally got to write this chapter. Please enjoy and push that review button at the bottom.**

Derek's eyes were glued to his phone, putting in a reminder for the appointment Meredith had set for the next day on his way to check on a patient. He didn't see Mark walking toward him until he had already crashed into him.

"Whoa man, what the hell?" Mark asked.

"Sorry," Derek mumbled, finishing the reminder and depositing his phone back in his pocket.

"Something's going on," Mark accused staring intently at Derek.

"What are you talking about?" Derek questioned with a slight waver in his voice.

Mark made a face at the telling sign before speaking again, "you're hiding something. I noticed it earlier when we were talking. You have that dopey "grin-y" face that you get when you're excited about something."

"I don't know what you mean," Derek tried again.

"Sure you don't and that's why you almost ran me over with that same dopey grin on your face just now. Cut the crap," Mark deadpanned.

"Meredith is going to kill me," Derek mumbled under his breath before grabbing Mark's arm and pulling him into a nearby empty room. "Mer's pregnant," Derek hissed.

"Hey, congrats man," Mark exclaimed clapping him on the back.

"You can't tell anyone. I shouldn't even have told you," Derek ordered.

"I can keep a secret…wait…can I at least tell Lex?" Mark tried.

"Absolutely not, you are sworn to complete secrecy," Derek replied.

"But..." Mark started.

"Seriously Mark! This cannot leave this room!" Derek exclaimed.

"Okay. Okay," Mark held up his hands in surrender.

Suddenly a smile broke out on Mark's face, "you're having another baby."

"Yeah," Derek replied a bright smile breaking on his face.

Derek made it through the rest of the day, but a weight hung heavily on his shoulders. He wasn't sure how or if he was going to tell Meredith that he had told Mark about the pregnancy. He mulled it over the entire time on the drive home with the kids, and continued to worry while he cooked dinner. Meredith finally made it home after he had put the kids. She found him sitting in the bed reading a medical journal. She crawled onto the bed flopping onto her back next to him.

"Hi," she sighed, scooting close to him.

"Hi," he replied, laying the journal on the table.

"So, how was your day?" she asked as he began to run his fingers through her hair.

"Uhhh…good?" he tried to answer calmly.

"You said that weird. What happened?" she questioned as she lifted her head to look at him.

"You can't be mad…and I didn't mean to tell him, but he wouldn't leave me alone…and he's my best friend…my brother even…" he rambled.

"Okay. I thought I was the one who rambled," she quipped, "so you're telling me you told Mark?"

"Uhhh…yeah," he sighed.

"That explains the weird smirks he was giving me all day," she laughed slightly.

"I'm going to kill him," Derek grumbled, "I'm sorry. I know you wanted to keep it a secret."

"Derek, don't worry about it. I mean I wanted to keep it a secret, but I kind of figured you would go ahead and tell Mark. He's your person," she explained laying her head back on his chest.

"My person?" Derek asked, his eyes crinkling in confusion.

"He's your Christina," she replied.

"Oh. Okay…we get to see our baby tomorrow," Derek smiled trailing his fingers lazily down her arm.

"Maybe, it'll depend how far along I am," Meredith sighed, leaning further into Derek, "I'm exhausted, can we go to bed?"

"Of course," he replied.

He watched as she changed into a pair of baggy pajama pants and a tank top before they snuggled into the bed ready for sleep. The next morning, Meredith was the first one up. He opened his eyes to the sound of someone retching in the bathroom. He stumbled groggily toward the sound and found Meredith clutching the toilet bowl and dry heaving. He fell on his knees beside her, gently taking her hair from her own hand and rubbing her back soothingly. Meredith seemed to relax and finally the dry heaving stopped and she was able to lean back, using Derek as a pillow.

"On a scale of 1 to 10?" he asked a phrase he had used many times through their first two pregnancies during the morning sickness phase.

"Only about a 5," she replied as she clutched to him feebly.

"Are you okay to move?" he asked looking at her intently.

"I need to brush my teeth," she replied, trying to stand weakly.

Derek quickly stood up, holding her tightly as she brushed her teeth and then carrying her to the bed.

"Why don't you lie down for a little while longer? I'll shower and then you can shower while I get the kids ready," he ordered gently.

Meredith simply nodded before snuggling into the bed. Derek showered quickly, but stretched out his time in the bathroom to allow Meredith to sleep. They weren't in a big hurry. The appointment wasn't until 11 and he was off while Meredith wasn't going in until after the appointment. He brushed his teeth and slicked mousse through his hair before walking back into the room clad in a towel. He dropped the towel when he walked over to the dresser to pull on a pair of boxers.

"You know, that right there is the reason I feel so cruddy," Meredith giggled behind him.

"I can't help it that you find me so irresistible," Derek joked back.

Meredith rolled off the bed before disappearing into the bathroom. Derek dressed quickly before wrangling the kids and getting them downstairs ready for breakfast. Meredith entered shortly after and dropped a kiss to each head before popping a piece of toast in the toaster.

"Are you still nauseous?" Derek whispered as he poured milk over each bowl of cereal in front of him.

"A little, I think dry toast is the only thing I can take right now," she replied quietly, her eyes roaming quickly to the children who seemed to be otherwise occupied.

Before long it was time for them to leave and Derek loaded the kids into the SUV while Meredith gathered her work stuff and threw it into the passenger seat of the Jeep.

"I'll drop the kids at daycare and then come meet you at Dr. Master's office," Derek said as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"I hate that we can't just get this done at the hospital," Meredith sighed.

"Come on now, you know that using the hospital OBGYN would be like releasing the rumor floodgates. Besides, you like Dr. Masters, she delivered the boys," Derek reassured her, having had this same conversation during both of their previous pregnancies.

Meredith nodded before shutting the door and driving away. Derek climbed into the SUV and turned the key. It roared to life and he drove toward the ferry docks.

"Daddy?" Ainsley started from the back seat.

"Whaty?" Derek replied glancing quickly back at her in the rearview mirror.

"Why are we going to daycare, you said you don't have to work today," Ainsley asked, her eyes crinkling, in the same way Derek's did, in confusion.

"I have to take Meredith to an appointment, but then I'll come back and get you and we'll spend the rest of the day together," Derek explained, false cheerfulness in his voice in the hope that Ainsley wouldn't pick up on the fact that he said appointment.

He glanced back in the mirror again and could almost see the gears turning in her head as she worked out his statement.

"I thought Meredith said she was better?" Ainsley finally questioned a distinct tone of panic in her voice.

"Oh princess," he sighed, "she is. It's just a check-up."

They were pulling up to the ferry and after he had parked the SUV, he turned in his seat and caught her eyes in his own. He could still see the fear behind them and sighed again, Ainsley was an extremely sensitive child and it broke his heart to see her worried. He thought for a split second about telling her the reason for the appointment, but he knew Meredith wanted to tell them together after they had gotten through the first trimester.

"Hey," he said gently, his hand reaching out to pat her leg gently, "I promise if there was something wrong we would tell you."

"Okay," she said after a moment of silence.

They made it to the hospital daycare without further incidence and then Derek sped to Dr. Master's office, arriving just a few minutes before they were called back.

**I decided that I am not going to write the actual doctor's appointment. I promise the pregnancy is going to go as planned, for right now, so don't freak out. Hopefully I won't run into any scheduling issues this time and I'll update sooner, but no promises. Review! Review! Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I managed to get another chapter up in less than a month. I'm going to go ahead and call that improvement. Maybe things will stay calm this time (fingers crossed). So in this chapter I am jumping forward several months. Meredith is now in week 17 (I know this is random number, but I wanted them to be as far along in the pregnancy as possible without being obviously pregnant and at 17 weeks I was showing but not obviously so with both of mine…so that's where I got it). Here we go.**

Meredith stood sideways in the mirror rubbing her hand gently over the slight swell in her abdomen. Derek entered the room from the bathroom and stopped suddenly, a smile lighting his face at the sight of her. He crept up quietly and placed one hand on her back before placing his other hand on top of the one on her stomach.

"We have to tell the kids. I am starting to really show now," Meredith sighed leaning slightly toward him.

"It's up to you. You're not showing that much. You could keep hiding under baggy clothes for awhile longer," Derek replied.

"I think we should tell them. It's going to affect their lives to and I want to give them plenty of time to adjust to the idea of having a new baby in the house," Meredith explained as she turned to face Derek.

"Okay," Derek agreed placing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

"What do you think their reactions will be?" Meredith asked.

She moved to the closet and Derek fell back onto the freshly made bed.

"I don't know," Derek said with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Jacob won't really understand I don't think," Meredith decided.

"Christopher is going to ask questions. A lot of questions," Derek sighed, but a smirk broke on his face.

"I bet Ainsley is going to be really helpful," Meredith finished.

Derek nodded as he rolled off the bed and crossed the room to the door.

"So we'll tell them tonight after we get off work?" Derek asked his hand on the door knob.

"Yeah," Meredith answered watching as he left the room to go get the kids ready.

As Meredith attempted to work that day, her mind was completely preoccupied with thoughts of that night. It was only after Bailey had yelled at her for not paying attention during a conversation that she decided she needed a break. She sat on April's couch with a bag of chips in her hand when Alex found her. He dropped onto the couch beside her and grabbed the bag shoving a handful of chips into his mouth.

"Hey," Meredith whined half heartedly.

"Sharing is caring," Alex snarked before grabbing another chip from the bag.

Christina burst through the door shutting it quickly behind her and listening intently through the door.

"What is she doing?" Alex half whispered to Meredith.

Meredith shrugged, keeping her eyes on Christina. Christina sighed loudly before slowly moving away from the door and dropping into the desk chair. Meredith cleared her throat loudly shooting a look at Christina.

"What?" Christina spit.

"Do I really have to ask?" Meredith sighed.

"The patient's wife is stalking me," Christina replied.

"I'm sure she isn't stalking you," Alex laughed.

"Every time I look up BAM she's there. She asks a thousand questions and she's annoying," Christina whined, "she was chasing me down the hall."

Meredith simply shook her head before twisting the top off a water bottle and taking a swig. They sat there for a moment before Meredith suddenly spoke.

"I'm pregnant," she blurted to the room, although Alex was the only one who didn't yet know.

"What?" Alex gasped through his chips, nearly choking on the mouthful.

"Oh, so you're telling people now?" Christina added feigning boredom.

"How far along," Alex asked after he had gained his composure.

"17 weeks, we're telling the kids tonight so I figured it was safe to let you in on the secret," Meredith replied.

"Wow," Alex said in awe.

Suddenly the door opened yet again and Jackson barreled in with a look of pure disgust on his face.

"I'm going to end up punching her in the face," he hissed to Christina.

"Oh, come on. At least she hasn't been following you around," Christina replied.

Alex shot another look at Meredith as if to say are you telling him.

At first Meredith simply shook her head no, but when she noticed that Jackson was wrapped up in his argument with Christina she leaned forward.

"I will soon, but I was more concerned with you finding out before the hospital grapevine gets wind of it. I have chatty children. They don't keep secrets very well," Meredith whispered.

She stood suddenly and walked toward the door. She turned the door handle and glanced back at the others once more before disappearing back into the hospital. She managed to make it through the day despite her wandering mind and met Derek in the lobby. He had already picked up the kids from the daycare and he quickly ushered her through the door and to the car. Meredith had almost forgotten just how tired working as a surgeon while pregnant had made her. She closed her eyes for just a moment and before she knew it Derek was shaking her shoulder gently to try and get her in the house. Derek and Meredith were silent through dinner, allowing Christopher to lead the conversation and occasionally nodding when he looked to them for input. After the table had been cleared and the kids bathed, Derek and Meredith called them into their bedroom. Meredith looked at the three expectant faces sitting on the bed opposite her and Derek and suddenly froze. She just didn't know how to tell them. She could feel Derek's gaze on her and jumped slightly when she heard him clear his throat.

"We have something to tell you guys. It's really exciting news," Derek started.

"Are we going to Disneyland? Cox Aunt Melia told us maybe we could go before school started if we came to see her," Christopher interrupted excitedly.

"No bud, that's not it," Derek replied, shooting one more glance at Meredith to give her a chance to jump in.

He could tell by her lack of movement that she was still unsure of the situation. He knew she was probably worried about their reactions and he figured he should just continue in the direction he was heading.

"Well you remember when I told you I had to take mommy to the doctor?" Derek asked and watched as they all nodded, "well the reason she had to go to the doctor is because she has a baby in her tummy."

As guessed earlier, Jacob wasn't impressed by the "exciting" news choosing instead to run a car along the comforter in front of him. Chris immediately rattled off questions which Derek tried to answer one after another. Meredith meanwhile had her eyes glued to Ainsley. The little girl sat expressionless behind the boys. Eventually she asked politely if she could go to her room and disappeared through the bedroom door. She had expected so kind of reaction from the little girl, but there was none. She glanced at Derek to see if he had noticed anything was off, but he seemed to not have noted anything odd. When they had finally gotten the boys to bed, they returned to their room.

"Well Christopher is excited," Derek sighed as he fell onto the bed.

"Yeah…did you notice Ainsley was acting strange?" Meredith asked as she turned to face him.

"Not really. What do you mean?" Derek replied.

"She just, didn't really say anything and then she disappeared to her room," Meredith explained.

"She probably just couldn't get a word in edgewise with Christopher blabbering. She'll probably want to talk in the morning. It'll give her plenty of time to process the news," Derek yawned.

"You're probably right," Meredith agreed before she scooted down beneath the covers to drift off to sleep.

**Well that was weird behavior from Ainsley. We're there now, full speed ahead with this story. Reviews are what I live for (okay really it's Jude and Riley…and then my husband…but reviews are a very close third and sometimes they have been known to slide into that second place spot…sorry babe), so CLICK THAT BUTTON!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I had this little turn of events has been planned since the beginning which is why I had to make Meredith pregnant. See...there is a method to my madness.**

When Derek woke up, he automatically reached to the opposite side of the bed, sighing when he hands met nothing but cold sheets. Meredith was already at the hospital. He slowly rose from the bed wincing as his joints creaked and popped.

"I'm getting old," he murmured, laughing lightly at his own joke.

He showered quickly, wrapping a towel around his waist and stopping at the bathroom sink to brush his teeth. That's when he noticed the post-it-note attached to the mirror. _I took the kids with me this morning. Enjoy your morning off. Meredith. _He read in Meredith's lazy scrawl. He smiled slightly and finished in the bathroom before returning to the bedroom to throw on his clothes. When he finally reached the hospital later that day, he immediately sought out Meredith. After looking in all the usual places, he finally found her leaning against the nurse's station in the ER.

"Hey," he whispered placing his hands on either side of her.

She turned to face him before replying, "hey."

"So, I didn't know what to do with myself this morning without the rush to get the kids ready," he smirked.

"I wanted to talk with Ainsley and of course Christopher woke up and by then I just figured it would be just as easy to get Jake up too," she sighed.

"Did you get anything out of Ainsley?" Derek asked.

"No. I dropped the boys off and talked with her by herself but she just kept telling me she was fine. I think maybe you should take her out by herself. Maybe she'll talk to you," Meredith replied.

"It can't hurt to try," Derek agreed, "we're probably just freaking out about nothing though. It's probably just a case of the jitters. She just really got settled in here and now we're adding to the chaos."

"Maybe. I just can't shake the feeling that something is really wrong. I have a feeling," she sighed.

"Is she back at the daycare?" Derek asked.

"Yeah. I got paged down here so Lexie took her for me," Meredith answered.

Suddenly Derek's pager went off and he groaned.

"Duty calls," he said pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before stalking off to a consult.

He was counting down the minutes to the end of his day when he again found Meredith. She was rushing down the hall away from him and he lengthened his steps trying to catch up.

"Hey," he called to her making her stop in her tracks and walk over to him.

"Hey. I'm in a hurry," she replied.

"I'm going to get Ainsley from daycare and take her to dinner, can you grab the boys?" he asked quickly.

"Of course. I just have to update my patient's family and finish off my charts and I should be headed out too," she answered.

"Okay. I'll see you at home," he kissed her before watching as she ran off in the direction she had been heading.

He had already decided to retrieve Ainsley, before going to his office to change, and so after his shift ran out, he made his way to the daycare.

"Hello Dr. Shepherd, are you here for the boys?" the woman at the front desk asked, he thought her name might have been Erin.

"No, my wife will be by to get them later. I'm just picking up Ainsley today," he replied beginning to thumb through the stack of notes for parents on the counter.

"She didn't come in today Dr. Shepherd," Erin replied her face twisting in confusion.

"What are you talking about? My sister-in-law dropped her off," Derek asked worriedly.

"Oh. Maybe she came in while I was in the back office. I'll go get her," Erin replied with a smile before retreating back into the daycare.

Derek returned to the stack of papers in front of him and quickly found a note addressed to him. He was scanning the letter taking in the contents only partly, something about Jacob scraping his knee, when Erin returned.

"Dr. Shepherd, I'm afraid Ainsley isn't back there and her teacher said she hasn't seen her all day," Erin said sadly.

Derek felt his stomach drop and his heart begin to race. He pulled out his cell phone and was dialing Lexie's number before he was entirely sure what he was doing. He listened as the phone rang again and again before a beep signaled the voicemail. He shoved the phone back in his pocket and sprinted out of the room and toward the elevator. He pressed the button repeatedly and found himself unable to still his body as he waited for the elevator to reach the surgical floor. He searched the OR board frantically and found the name he was looking for almost immediately. He practically ran into the OR, lucky he even remembered to grab a mask.

"Dr. Shepherd, I certainly hope you have a reason for bursting into my OR like a madman," Bailey scolded.

"Lexie," he gasped, attempting to form words despite his brains current state of disarray.

Her eyes rose to meet his and she could see the worry there.

"Did you take Ainsley to the daycare today?" Derek sputtered through the mask.

"Uh…yeah," she replied her eyes glancing quickly to Bailey and back to Derek.

"Did you actually walk her to the daycare and drop her off there?" he tried again, his pulse elevating.

"Well…she kept telling me she was big enough to do it herself. And she kept saying that she knew where it was…I took her all the way to the floor and I waited at the elevator and watched her walk there. She turned and waved at me and then I left, but she was there," Lexie rambled quickly, automatically moving into panic mode.

"You didn't actually see her walk in?" he questioned, expending every ounce of control he had not to raise his voice.

"No," Lexie squeaked.

Derek turned and sprinted from the OR. He moved without purpose through the halls glancing around corners and into rooms all the while dialing Meredith's number repeatedly. She finally answered on the third try and Derek had to slow down to get his brain to function.

"Ainsley's gone!" he exclaimed finally, stopping and sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.

"What?" Meredith asked obviously confused.

"Lexie let her walk down there by herself, but she didn't ever go in. I guess she snuck away when Lexie turned around," Derek replied, he voice choked with tears.

"Where are you?" Meredith questioned.

"Ummm…" he glanced around, "third floor across from room 3324."

"Okay. I'll be there in just a moment. Derek…we will find her," Meredith sighed before hanging up without another word.

Meredith found him sitting on the floor with his head in his hands only a few minutes later. He looked completely broken and dark spots dotted the front of his scrubs showing every place a tear had fallen.

"I called the police and they said they would be here as soon as they can," she told him as she fell to the floor beside him.

"She was weird last night. I should have gone and talked to her right then," Derek replied between sobs.

"Derek," she called for his attention before grabbing his face in her hands and looking into his eyes, "we will find her."

**I had to do it. I know you hate me now, but a cliff-hanger was just the best possible way to end this chapter. If I get a whole lot of reviews I might be persuaded to update by Tuesday (earlier if the reviews are overwhelmingly plentiful).**


	8. Chapter 8

**I kind of loved writing this chapter even though it was a really sad chapter to write. So here is the next installment in the latest Shepherd clan drama.**

Meredith had finally convinced Derek to relocate to the lobby in order to meet the police when they got there. He sat slumped over in the rigid chair, a steady stream of tears rolling down his face. Meredith's eyes were water, but she was attempting to keep some semblance of control knowing that someone had to speak to the police. Mark found them moments later and was sitting next to Derek, his hand around Derek's bicep as he attempted to simply be there for them. Meredith was pacing back and forth, unable to stop moving for fear she would completely breakdown. Mark was the first to notice the uniformed officer approaching the front desk. He quickly jumped up to intercept them leaving Meredith and Derek to continue worrying.

"Hi. Are you here about the missing child call?" he asked the policeman that was closest to him.

This policeman was large, the same height as Mark and more muscular. His complexion was dark and he was completely bald.

"Uh….yeah. Are you the father?" the policeman asked.

"No. Mark Sloan. I'm her uncle. Her parents are over there," he explained motioning to Derek and Meredith.

"James Miller and this is my partner Andrew Lincoln," he introduced.

Mark glanced at the man next to him. He was slightly shorter and nowhere near as muscular, but he was almost more intimidating than his larger counterpart. His head was topped with a shock of gray hair and his blue eyes were steely and serious. The thick mustache on his face twitched slightly, the only indication Mark could see that he was acknowledging the introduction. Mark nodded before turning and leading the two officers over to where Derek and Meredith were. Officer Lincoln, obviously the more senior officer, sat down across from Derek, pulling a notepad and pencil from his pocket.

"You're the parents of the missing child?" Officer Lincoln addressed Derek and Meredith.

Meredith finally took a seat next to Derek and nodded her head lightly.

"Okay. I'm going to need some basic information to start out so that we can get her description out there. I need the child's name, age, hair color, eye color, any distinguishing marks, and if you have a recent photograph on you that would help too," he listed.

"Ainsley Rae Shepherd…uh…she's eight. She has dark brown hair and blue eyes. She has a birthmark on her side that looks a little like a paw print and her fingernails were painted purple. I don't have a picture on me. Derek do you have your wallet?" Meredith tried to answer all the questions before speaking to Derek.

"In my office," he answered simply.

"I have one," Mark replied pulling his wallet out of the pocket of his jeans.

He flipped through the few pictures in his wallet before extracting Ainsley's latest school photo. He handed it to Officer Lincoln who ripped out the page from the notebook and handed both the paper and the picture the Officer Miller. The larger officer moved away talking into the speaker on his shoulder.

"Officer Miller is going to put out a bulletin on Ainsley so that all cars will be on the lookout. Now when was the last time you saw her?" he questioned.

"This morning. I dropped her off with my sister at around 8 o'clock and she took her up to the daycare," Meredith supplied.

"She didn't take her all the way there. Ainsley is really independent. She likes to do things herself. Lexie took her to the floor and then watched her walk down there, but she left when she was outside the center," Derek added.

"Is there anyone who would want to harm Ainsley?" he continued his investigation.

"I'm not sure. I guess it could be a disgruntled patient family member, but she was upset. We told her we're expecting a baby last night and she was acting strange ever since. It's possible she ran away. Like Derek said she's a very independent child," Meredith replied.

"Okay. Is there anywhere she might go? Is there anything else I should know? Any information that might help?" Officer Lincoln proceeded.

"My mom lives in New York and I think her mother's parents live in Arizona, but other than that she's just a little girl. She doesn't know anyplace but home, school, and the hospital.

"You aren't her mother?" Officer Lincoln confirmed.

"I'm her step-mother. Her mother died a little over a year ago," Meredith answered, "we've had her ever since then though and she hasn't had any contact with those grandparents so I really don't think she would try to get there. We did go to New York for Christmas though. She probably still remembers that."

"Okay the best we can do right now is start looking for her. Someone should go home in case she shows up there and it probably wouldn't hurt for someone to stay here in case she comes back. I'm going to need your phone numbers," Officer Lincoln ordered.

Meredith quickly scribbled down her and Derek's cell numbers before watching as the officer left the lobby and returned to his patrol car.

"I need to go look for her. I can't just sit here doing nothing," Derek said suddenly nearly choking on the words.

"I'll stay here and Alex already volunteered to grab the boys. I'll send him to the house. You shouldn't be driving though Derek," Meredith said softly rubbing his back.

"I'll go. I can drive him," Mark interrupted.

Derek stood immediately heading toward the elevators without another word and Mark ran after him with one last glance at Meredith. She sat momentarily silent before finally pulling out her phone with a sigh. She quickly gave Alex the plan before hanging up quickly and allowing her head to fall into her hands. Without meaning to, she finally broke down and allowed the tears to fall and that was how Lexie found her several minutes later.

"I'm so sorry," Lexie said, "I swear I thought she was there I would have never…"  
>"We know you didn't do it on purpose. Sometimes things happen," Meredith sighed.<p>

Meredith suddenly stood, deciding that she needed to do something. She rode the elevator to the fourth floor where the daycare was located and immediately moved to the nurses' station just down the hall from the daycare entrance.

"Hi…um…I need someone who was here this morning," she said to the male nurse who was sitting at the desk.

"I was here," he sighed looking up from his task slowly as if her interruption was the single most annoying event of the day.

"Okay. Did you see a little girl come by here? She has dark brown hair. She's about this tall," Meredith tried to describe Ainsley.

"Are you talking about your daughter?" he stopped her rambling suddenly.

"Yes," Meredith replied.

"Yeah, I saw her this morning. She came up here with the other Grey and then she walked back by a little later. I figured she forgot something," he recalled.

"Did she get on the elevator?" Meredith asked feeling like maybe she was getting somewhere.

"Yeah, I believe so. Honestly Dr. Grey, I can't tell you much. My job isn't to sit here and people watch," he answered sarcastically.

Meredith really wanted to smack the guy by that point, but she restrained herself, simply replying with a tight "thank you" before sprinting back to the elevator.

She was suddenly at a loss. She had gone to the logical first choice. Meredith knew she had been on the daycare floor, but there was no way of knowing where she got off after riding the elevators. Suddenly she had a brain storm and pulled her phone from her pocket, knowing that there was one person who could help.

Meanwhile, Derek and Mark drove aimlessly around the city. Mark was trying to concentrate on the road ahead, but he could feel Derek breaking down more and more with every second she was still missing. His eyes scanned the world outside for a glimpse of a familiar ponytail bouncing or a glint of bright blue eyes, but he couldn't find one. Eventually Mark pulled off the street into a parking lot.

"There has to be a better way to do this," Mark sighed, "just aimlessly driving around won't get us anywhere."

They sat there in the silence for what seemed like hours.

"Derek. Can you think of any..." Mark finally tried before Derek cut him off.

"I don't know," Derek roared, his head falling back against the leather seat, "I wish I knew where to look but I don't."

"Okay. I have an idea," Mark sighed, putting the car back in drive and pulling back on to the road.

**That was a long and stressful one, don't you think? The next chapter is another one that has been just about finished and whether or not I bust my hump to finish it or not is determined by your reviews…so push that button down there and tell me who should find Ainsley. Should it be the police, Meredith , or Mark and Derek…or if you really want her to just suddenly show up at the house where Alex is I guess there is an option too.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh how I love reviews! They're like crack. Just for clarity, these things are happening simultaneously. The italicized stuff is obviously Mark and Derek and the non-italicized is Meredith.**

Meredith waited by the elevator for nearly twenty minutes before Christina finally showed up.

"Okay, where have you looked?" Christina asked.

"Uh…nowhere. I don't even know where to start," Meredith replied with a frown.

"Okay. Kids are small. Tiny. She can't have made it far, right?" Christina spoke fast in her own way trying to comfort Meredith who was clearly on the edge.

"He," she pointed to the nurse as she began to move from foot to foot, "said Ainsley got on the elevator."

"So we start at the bottom and work our way up," Christina decided pushing the button to the elevator repeatedly.

Meredith followed Christina as she tore through the hospital asking person after person if they had seen the little girl. She watched as Christina yelled at and scared interns, nurses and doctors alike until they finally got some promising news on the sixth floor. Christina reconnected with Meredith who was clutching onto the nurse's station as if it was the only thing keeping her alive at that very moment.

"Tyler said he saw her walking down the hall a little after noon. He doesn't know where she went but he doesn't remember seeing her ever head back toward the elevator," Christina explained.

"Okay," Meredith replied not ready to get especially excited about the potential of the situation.

_Mark drove silently as Derek continued to score the sidewalks. He suddenly made a sharp turn into a bus station not more than a few blocks from the hospital. Derek looked up at the building and slowly turned toward Mark._

"_It's not possible. She's just…she…she asked me on Monday why the sky was blue. She's eight years old. She can't even buy a bus ticket," Derek said frantically._

"_Derek. You drive by this bus station every time you come to my apartment. Hell, Ainsley has asked me about it on more than one occasion. She wouldn't have been able to buy a ticket, but she's smart. She would have tried," Mark replied turning the key to shut off the ignition._

_Derek blinked once, twice, and then finally moved to get out of the car. Mark followed him into the glass walled building waiting as Derek looked up and down the rows of chairs and waiting passengers. He heard Derek's breath hitch in his throat and followed his gaze to the corner of the room. A young girl sat alone on the last row. They could only see her from the back, but her dark hair definitely looked familiar. Derek began to approach her slowly with Mark hot on his heels._

Meredith ran behind Christina as she burst into patient's rooms. This is why she had called Christina. Christina was no nonsense. No matter how badly she wanted to find Ainsley, Meredith knew that Christina would do it better. As she was lost in her thoughts, Christina stopped abruptly, causing Meredith to come barreling into her.

"What the…?" Meredith exclaimed.

"Shhhh…listen," Christina whispered.

Meredith stood silently listening through the door in front of her. She could hear a tiny sound coming from the room, the sound of a child crying. Meredith's hand grasped the door handle and she slowly opened the door to the conference room.

_They were only a row away when a man approached the young girl. He sat next to her and seemed to carry on a conversation for several minutes before standing and holding out his hand. The little girl took it and stood, sending Derek into panic mode. He stepped quickly around the final row of seats and shouted "hey."_

_The man turned first his eyes locking with Derek's, however Derek's eyes were locked on the little girl. She turned and looked between the man and Derek curiously. Mark watched as Derek's body visibly collapsed. The similarities ended at the little girl's hair. Mark apologized quickly and placed his hand on Derek's shoulder gently moving him to the car._

Meredith entered the room without a sound. With the door open, the crying became louder and she followed the sound to the other side of the room. As soon as she had made it partially around the table, Meredith could see a pair of small pink converse sticking out from under the table. The crying stopped abruptly as she made her way around the table and she watched as the two feet disappeared beneath it. With a lot of effort, she managed to fold her overly tired and pregnant body into a sitting position on the floor and ducked her head to look under the table. Green eyes met blue and she smiled despite herself.

"Come here little girl," she coaxed reaching her arms toward Ainsley.

Ainsley crawled slowly toward her before curling herself into her lap and sniffling loudly.

"You can never ever scare me like that again, do you hear me?" Meredith sighed, wrapping her arms securely around the little girl.

Ainsley nodded weakly as she continued to sniffle. Meredith had never been so thankful for Ainsley's small frame as she hoisted herself up and settled Ainsley on her hip. She made her way from the room, shaking her head at Christina's wide eyes. Meredith made her way quickly to Derek's office before falling onto the couch and repositioning Ainsley. Christina feel into the chair behind the desk, pulling out a set of index cards and alternating between looking at the cards and watching Meredith to make sure she was okay. After sitting and holding Ainsley until her sobs and sniffling had quieted, Meredith finally pulled out her cell phone.

"We better call your daddy and let him know we found you," Meredith said feeling Ainsley tense up in her arms.

Meredith told Derek the news and listened as he once again broke down in tear before putting her phone on the couch beside her.

"Why would you do this? Do you know how much you scared your daddy and me? And your Uncle Mark? And Aunt Lexie and Alex? Even Christina was worried," Meredith asked as she gave Ainsley a gentle squeeze.

"I thought I wanted to run away, but then I changed my mind. I was scared because I knew you and daddy would be mad. I just didn't know what to do," Ainsley sighed into Meredith's shoulder.

"But why would you want to run away?" Meredith questioned running her hand over Ainsley's back.

"You're going to have a new baby. What if you don't want me anymore?" Ainsley cried.

"Oh, baby," Meredith whispered pulling Ainsley away from her shoulder to meet her eyes, "we will always want you. You are daughter and you are every bit as important to your dad and I as Christopher and Jacob and the new baby will be."

"But I'm not your daughter," Ainsley whispered her eyes moving away from Meredith's.

"That is where you are wrong. Here's the thing about you and me, I might not be the one who carried you in my tummy for nine months, but that makes me love you even more. I chose you Ainsley. I adopted you because I took one look at you and I knew that I wanted you to be mine. I may not have given birth to you, but you are my daughter in every way that counts," Meredith explained as she once again pulled Ainsley against her.

They sat quietly until Ainsley finally seemed to hit a wall and began to snore quietly. When the door finally opened to reveal a frazzled looking Derek, Meredith smiled softly before transferring the little girl into her father's arms. He hugged her tightly, sighing into shoulder as his eyes locked with Meredith's.

"Later. Let's take her home," Meredith whispered shaking her head softly.

They made their way through the hospital and toward the car so that they could finally put the events of the day behind them.

**Apparently all of you had the same idea as me. I was already leaning toward Meredith finding her so that I could do that emotional scene right there, but after the responses I got, I knew I was right. If there was ever a chapter to review this is the one.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Yeah. Another chapter. The hubby stole my computer for a week because his broke so I had the chapter, but didn't post it. It's kind of a filler chapter, but also has some cute moments and sets up the format for the story so it's necessary I swear.**

Derek sighed as he stopped the car outside the house. His palms flew to his eyes and he pressed hard, trying to combat the steadily growing ache that had set up residence. Meredith's hand moved out to brush his face lightly, before her eyes darted to the backseat to find Ainsley curled up and snoring slightly.

"We shouldn't wake her," Meredith decided her eyes meeting Derek's.

"I'll carry her," Derek agreed before he finally shut of the car sitting for a moment in the silence before moving to leave the car.

Derek scooped the little girl into his arms and followed Meredith as she made her way into the house. They came across Alex in the kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee and flipping through a stack of index cards. He stood when they entered and moved toward them, his hand automatically moving to run across Ainsley's back.

"Thank God," he exclaimed under his breath before Derek turned to carry her to bed leaving him alone with Meredith.

"Thank you," Meredith said simply.

Alex stepped forward, bringing her into a tight embrace and saying nothing as she once again began to sob.

"Stupid pregnancy hormones," she chastised as she finally moved away and brushed the tears away roughly.

"Jake went straight to sleep, but Chris insisted that he was staying up until you got home. He finally crashed about a half-hour ago," Alex reported.

"Thanks," she repeated, "you should stay here tonight. It's late, you shouldn't be driving."

"Nah. I'm going back to the hospital. Robbins called me a few minutes ago. One of our repeat patients has been admitted. I want to go check on him," Alex replied beginning to gather up his stuff.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and shot one more look at Meredith before leaving the house. Meredith checked the door locks and walked through the house, turning of lamps and picking up discarded toys and shoes. She threw them into a bucket near the stairs vowing to take care of them the next day before finally making her way up the stairs and into their bedroom. She smiled despite her tiredness when she came across Derek and Ainsley cuddled together on the bed. Derek had changed Ainsley into a pair of pajamas, but apparently afterwards had lost steam and fallen into the bed without changing himself. She grabbed her pajamas and made her way to the master bathroom to change before she too fell quickly asleep.

The next morning, Derek awoke with a sharp little knee jutting into his back. He opened his eyes slowly and was immediately met with the outline of a tiny boy practically bouncing in front of him.

"Shhhh…" Derek whispered, slowly sitting up and leading the little boy from the room.

They had barely cleared the room before Christopher started in on an enthusiastic bought of rambling.

"Why is Ainsley in your bed? Is she sick? I like sleeping with you and mommy when I'm sick. Where were you last night? I like staying with Uncle Alex," he spit out quickly and without pause.

"Whoa," Derek sighed, "I need coffee."

Chris looked at him confused before shrugging his shoulders and continuing to follow him down to the kitchen. He started the coffee maker and got Christopher set up with a bowl of cereal at the table before he moved to his office. He left the door open figuring he could at least hear if Christopher decided to destroy something. He immediately pulled out his phone and scrolled through the contacts until he found the one he was looking for. He listened to the rings before a familiar voice sounded through the phone.

"Hey Owen," he greeted.

"Oh. Hey man. I didn't figure I'd be hearing from you for a few days," Owen replied.

"I just wanted to make sure it was okay if we were out for a couple days," Derek sighed.

"As far as the hospital is concerned you both have the flu," Owen explained, "I figured you'd want your privacy."

"Thank you," Derek said simply, his hand moving to rub his neck thoughtfully.

"No problem. Take all the time you need Derek," Owen replied.

As he hung up the phone he sighed yet again. He listened for the faint sounds of Christopher humming happily from the kitchen and leaned further back into his desk chair. He closed his eyes for only a moment, but when he felt himself drifting back to sleep, he stood up to seek refuge in the hopefully now finished coffee. His eyes immediately moved to Christopher still engrossed in his bowl of cereal and he dropped a chaste kiss to the top of his head. The coffee pot was silent, letting him know that it was indeed finished brewing and he poured a cup. The liquid hit his mouth and he immediately winced as he felt the skin on his tongue protest.

"I'm going to go check on your brother. Stay put," Derek ordered as he made his way toward the stairs.

He went slowly watching the dark liquid in the mug tip dangerously close to the rim several times. Jacob was still snoring softly in his bed, so Derek made his way toward his bedroom. He stopped short when he heard a gentle soothing tone drifting through the door. He stood there, listening to Meredith reassuring their little girl. Telling her again and again that she was not in trouble and they were in fact just grateful that she was home. He grabbed the door handle, but hesitated. He turned quietly and made his way back to the kitchen deciding that maybe not interrupting his girls was the best choice right then. Barely half an hour later Meredith descended the stairs with Jake on her hip. She found Derek at the table, a bowl of Muesli and a medical journal lay on the table in front of him. Christopher was in the seat beside him coloring frantically in a coloring book.

"Hi," Derek greeted as she moved to kiss him.

"Hey," she returned.

"Ainsley up yet?" he played dumb.

"I told her to take a shower while I got her breakfast ready," Meredith replied.

Meredith moved to greet Christopher before shooing him to the playroom leaving them alone.

"I think…" he started.

"Derek…" she started at the same time.

"Go ahead," he nodded.

"I know we need to talk about this with her, but I really think that anger isn't the best way to go about this," Meredith said.

"I know," he sighed.

"We need to talk to her. Get the full story about what she was feeling and let her know that running away wasn't the way to handle those feelings," Meredith explained.

"Yeah," Derek agreed.

"I think she would benefit from talking to someone else about this. Actually I think the boys could benefit from an outside perspective too," Meredith continued, "a lot has happened in this family in a short amount of time. The kids need an unbiased outlet."

"Yeah," Derek repeated.

"That's it? I expected this to cause a fight?" she asked surprised.

"I think I lost all ability to deny my children's state of upset when one of them ran away," Derek sighed.

Meredith looked at him with understanding before proceeding to throw together a quick breakfast for Jake and Ainsley. Ainsley entered the kitchen hesitantly a few minutes later and she and Jake finished eating before Derek sent Jacob to the playroom after his brother. Ainsley looked between the two adults with a look of what could only be described a pure terror on her face.

"Okay. Start from the beginning. Why did you decide to run away?" Derek finally started.

**I decided to end it there. I'm not going to actually play out that conversation because it would basically be the same one as before, but for those of you who want to see Derek and Ainsley talk I promise he will attend a therapy session. I like reviews. Reviews are my favorite. Push the button please.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I have absolutely no experience with children's therapy. Because of this I have taken creative license with the therapy portion of this story. If anyone has experience and would like to contribute their ideas feel free to express them in the reviews. I appreciate any and all criticism. Also I sat down to finally figure out the timing on this thing now, so if it seems a little off I am sorry. It is now early September in the story which means that Meredith got pregnant in April, it also means that Chris and Ainsley are in school now.**

Ainsley's legs swung slowly, thumping against the chair leg again and again. Her face was scrunched up in concentration as she threaded the colored beads onto the yarn in her hand. Dr. Weller sat across from her, his own string of beads lay in front of him although decidedly less garish in color.

"Ainsley, would you like to tell me more about your family?" he asked after another minute of silence.

"I have lots of people in my family," she said, her blue eyes meeting the psychologist's brown.

"You do?" he prodded.

"Yeah. I have Meredith and Daddy and Christopher and Jacob. And I have a Christina and Uncle Owen. And Uncle Alex and ummm…Uncle Mark and Aunt Lexie and Sean and Kennedy. Oh…and I have Nonna and daddy has lots of sisters," Ainsley listed returning to the necklace in front of her.

"Do you like having a big family?" Dr. Weller asked, picking up a pen to make a note on his notepad.

"Sometimes," Ainsley replied.

"Sometimes?" he questioned watching the girl intently.

"Yeah. Sometimes I like it, but sometimes I like being by myself," she reiterated once again.

Dr. Weller stood moving to a bin full of art supplies and pulling out a pad of thick paper and a set of paints.

"Okay Ainsley. Let's put down the beads for awhile and work on something else," he ordered gently setting the paper and paints on an easel and taking a seat nearby.

Ainsley reviewed her work one last time before laying it carefully on the table and moving toward Dr. Weller.

"I want you to sit right there. In front of the easel," he directed waiting for her to sit on the tiny stool, "okay. I want you to paint me a picture of your favorite place."

"Anywhere I want?" she asked hesitantly.

"Any place you want, but it has to be your favorite place," he repeated.

He watched as she picked up the paintbrush dipping in the blue paint before putting it to the paper. They sat quietly again, the gentle scratching of pen on paper as Dr. Weller continued to make notes, the only sound.

"Okay. I want you to tell me about what happened a few weeks ago," he said after a moment.

"About when I ran away?" she questioned between switching colors.

"Yes. What made you want to run away?" he asked.

"I was mad," she shrugged, once again changing colors.

"What made you so mad?" he prompted.

"They were going to have another baby," she replied.

He watched as she dipped the brush into the blue, black, and green before swirling it on the paper purposefully.

"Who was going to have another baby? Your dad and Meredith?" he questioned once again putting pen to paper.

"Yeah," she once again shrugged.

"You don't want them to have another baby? Don't you like being a big sister?" he asked.

"I guess, but I already have Christopher and Jake. I don't think they needed another baby," Ainsley replied.

"Are you afraid that the baby is going to get more attention than you?" the therapist questioned.

"No…maybe," she sighed, "I changed my mind though."

"What do you mean you changed your mind?" he prodded, making a note of the change of subject.

"I changed my mind. I didn't want to run away, but I was scared that they would be mad," she explained.

"Mad?" he questioned.

"Yeah, because I wanted to run away. I went on to the conference room where daddy let me do my homework during his meeting with Uncle Owen. And then I hid under the table," she recalled then added, "I'm done."

Dr. Weller stood and moved around her to look at the painting.

"What did you paint?" he asked studying the paper intently.

"It's the lake by our house," she pointed to the bluish, greenish, blackish smudge, "sometimes daddy takes me down there and we go fishing just the two of us."

"You like spending time by yourself with your dad?" the psychologist asked.

"I like spending time with Meredith too," she nodded.

"You know Ainsley, when the baby comes, I bet Meredith and your dad are going to need your help. That could be fun. Getting to help with the baby," Dr. Weller tried.

"Maybe," Ainsley shrugged yet again.

Dr. Weller looked at his watch, noting that their hour was up.

"Okay, this is what I want you to do," he moved to a bookshelf pulling out a blank diary and handing it to the little girl, "every time you get mad or sad or happy I want you to write down why."

"That's it?" she questioned, taking the book from the doctor.

"That's it. And then I want you to bring it with you next time you come see me," he confirmed, "you better get your necklace."

Ainsley nodded moving to the table and picking up each end of the string gingerly.

"Here, let me tie it for you," Dr. Weller offered taking it from her and tying a quick knot. She pulled the loop of string over her head and settled it around her neck before running her fingers over the colorful beads. Dr. Weller led her to the door and walked her out to the reception area where Derek sat. Derek stood to shake his hand and thank him, but was stopped short when Dr. Weller began to speak.

"In her next session I would like you to come in with us. I want to do a feeling validation session. Basically we will just be letting her know that it's normal to have these feelings so that we can help her to work through them," he explained.

"Of course. Whatever I can do to help," Derek agreed glancing over at Ainsley who had moved to watch the fish in the tank by the reception area.

He shook the doctor's hand once more and watched as he turned to return to his office, before moving toward the receptionist's desk.

"Can I confirm my other children's appointments?" he asked the woman at the desk, he thought her name might have been Cheryl.

"Of course Dr. Shepherd. Let me pull up our appointment calendar," she said as she began clicking away at the keyboard keys.

Ainsley moved to stand next to Derek and he automatically placed his arm around her shoulders pulling her in to his side.

"Okay. Christopher Shepherd is yours?" she questioned.

"Yes," he replied.

"I have him scheduled tomorrow at 3, let me see…Jacob, right?" she continued.

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"We have him scheduled Friday at 1. He's blocked in for a pre-kinder session, is that correct?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered as Ainsley grabbed his hand and leaned toward the door, "I guess someone is ready to leave. Thank you."

"Bye Ainsley. I'll see you next week," Cheryl called as they disappeared through the door.

He settled in beside Ainsley as they made their way through the building and toward the car.

"Did you make that necklace?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Do you like Dr. Weller?" he questioned, holding the door open for the little girl as they moved from the building into the warm day.

"He's nice," she shrugged.

Derek unlocked the car and slid into the driver seat, waiting for Ainsley to buckle herself in before turning the key. He drove in silence, still not entirely sure how to deal with the situation he found himself in. He sighed, his hands squeezing the steering wheel ever so slightly tighter.

"Daddy?" Ainsley sounded from the backseat.

"Yeah?" he replied glancing into the rearview mirror to look at the little girl.

"When is the baby going to get here?" she asked quietly.

Derek's breath caught in his throat. Ainsley had not willingly entered into conversation the conversation about the baby since they had told the kids about it nearly a month ago.

"Ummm…they should get here in January, unless they decide to come early," he finally choked out.

"Oh. Okay," Ainsley replied, her eyes moving back to the world beyond the window.

Derek couldn't help the slight smile that broke on his face, he knew that it wasn't much, but he felt that Ainsley's acceptance of the baby was finally a step in the right direction for their family.

**I like this chapter too. Reviews are the best.**

**Updated: It was brought to my attention that the "they" that Derek says can be seen as them having twins. There is still only one baby.**


	12. Chapter 12

**So I realized something. My math was off at the beginning of the series which means that Ainsley is actually a year younger than I told you she is. Everything got so jumbled up in my head that I had to sit down and write out a timeline and all of a sudden I realized that I kept jumping forward but not actually thinking about the exact amount of time that had passed. So here is the timeline as I figured it out (the actual years are just based on when the show started but because the show split the intern year across two seasons it doesn't line up the same exactly):**

**October 2004: Derek met and slept with Renee Martin (this is not true to the show because he was in Seattle a long time before Meredith in the TaTA universe)**

**July 2005: Derek and Meredith meet. Meredith starts her internship.**

**July 8, 2005: Ainsley is born.**

**July 2006: Derek and Meredith get married.**

**September 25, 2006: Christopher is born.**

**May 8, 2008: Jacob is born.**

**August 2010: Derek and Meredith find out about Ainsley.**

**March 2011: Derek and Meredith are granted custody of Ainsley.**

**April 2011: Renee Martin dies.**

**April 2012: Meredith gets pregnant.**

**Anything that doesn't currently fit into this timeline is wrong. Maybe someday I'll go back and fix it…but probably not. Now that I got all that straightened out and I'm not just ambiguously throwing out random periods of time, here is the continuation of the story.**

Derek pulled into the school parking lot and maneuvered the SUV into the visitor parking space. He pulled the key from the ignition and slid from the seat putting his hand to his back pocket to ensure his wallet with his driver's license was tucked in place. The car sounded from behind him as he clicked the lock button ensuring that the doors were locked before making his way into the building. Meredith had called the school and explained that Ainsley was only going to be attending half days on Wednesdays for awhile until they were able to change her appointments with Dr. Weller, but Derek dreaded the protocol the school had in place for early pick-ups. He knew that he had appreciated the added security when he and Meredith had chosen the school, but actually being subjected to it was annoying. He opened the door and immediately made his way across the corridor to the main office. The receptionist looked up from her computer screen and addressed him.

"Can I help you?" she asked sweetly.

Derek grimaced at the false enthusiasm in her voice before replying, "Derek Shepherd. Here to pick up Ainsley Shepherd."

"Okay. I need your driver's license," she said before starting to dig through a pile of papers on the desk.

Derek pulled out his driver's license and placed it on the counter waiting for further instructions.

She scanned the license into the computer and tapped her fingers on the desk impatiently while she waited for the scan to appear on the screen. When it finally did, her keys moved quickly across the keys as she pulled up Ainsley's record and checked Derek's name against the file. Derek heard the printer jump to life and a sheet of paper appear on top. The receptionist moved quickly pulling the sticker off the paper and sticking it onto the sheet of paper before her.

"I'm going to call her down. You need to fill out the paperwork and sign her out," she explained handing him the sheet of paper.

Derek grumbled "thank you" as he grabbed a pen from the cup on the counter and began jotting down the answers to the questions in front of him. Ainsley appeared just as he was finishing the paperwork.

"Did you make sure to ask Mrs. Jacobs for your work for this afternoon?" Derek asked Ainsley as he handed the paperwork back to the receptionist.

"She told me that she put everything in my folder and she gave me papers for Mrs. Weston," Ainsley replied, moving to peek over the counter.

Derek pulled the sign-out sheet toward him, filling in the necessary blanks and pushing it back to its designated space. The receptionist finally returned his license and said goodbye to Ainsley, allowing Derek to lead her from the school and to the car. Once they were in route to Dr. Weller's office, Derek peeked back at Ainsley in the rearview mirror.

"You know, Dr. Weller wants me to come in on your session today?" Derek said, watching as Ainsley gaze moved from the window to the back of his seat.

"Oh," she replied.

"Are you okay with that? If I'm in there?" Derek asked.

"What if I say something that makes you mad?" Ainsley questioned as she began to play with her hands nervously.

"Well…there might be some things that I don't understand when you first say them, and that is why Dr. Weller is there. We're going to work together so that I can understand," Derek tried to explain to the best of his ability.

Ainsley sat quietly as if in contemplation and Derek decided not to push it and the rest of the short car ride was spent in silence. They pulled up to the building housing Dr. Weller's office and pulled into a parking space before making their way into the building. When they made their way into the therapy room a mere half hour later, Dr. Weller directed Derek to sit on a couch and Ainsley immediately jumped into his lap. Dr. Weller took up chair next to them and pulled out Ainsley's file.

"Okay….First, did you bring in your feelings journal Ainsley?" Dr. Weller asked.

Ainsley nodded holding up the book before placing it in his outstretched hand. He flipped the book open, thumbing through the pages of misspelled words written in a messy child's scrawl.

"She's definitely the daughter of a doctor," Dr. Weller joked, attempting to clear some of the nervous energy in the room.

Derek smiled lightly at Ainsley who looked up at him obviously not getting the joke.

"Alright, let me explain what we are going to do here. We're going to do a lot of talking today and some playing, but mostly what we are trying to do today is make you feel better Ainsley," Dr. Weller explained, looking intently at both Derek and Ainsley.

Derek nodded and Ainsley looked at Derek again.

"Okay. So I read in your journal that something made you really mad this weekend. Can you tell me a little more about what happened?" Dr. Weller asked.

Ainsley slid silently down Derek's legs and settled on the floor in front of him, pulling a pad of paper and box of markers in front of her. They waited in silence for a moment, Derek looking at Ainsley's back and then at Dr. Weller worriedly. Dr. Weller simply held his finger up, silently bidding him to be patient.

"Ainsley? Do you not want to talk about that right now?" the psychologist prodded.

"Christopher was being annoying," she finally huffed as she pulled a marker purposefully across the paper.

"What was he doing that made you mad?" Dr. Weller prompted.

"I asked him to get out of my room because I was reading and he kept coming in there," Ainsley explained, a slight attitude in her voice.

Derek was at a loss. Ainsley had never made a peep about her brother's attachment to her. They all seemed to get along so well, that he and Meredith never knew that Ainsley wanted her own space.

"Well Ainsley, I think we all get a little annoyed when someone is bothering us," Dr. Weller nodded, "what do you think Dr. Shepherd?"  
>Derek sat silent for a moment, trying to organize his thought into some sort of comprehendible dialogue.<p>

"I didn't know you felt that way," he finally sighed.

"Not all the time," Ainsley replied, shooting a sly glance over her shoulder at Derek, "I love him, but sometimes I want to be by myself."

"We're going to make sure that your brothers give you some space every once and awhile," Derek nodded, his gaze shifting back to Dr. Weller.

"What about this other day? It says you were sad," Dr. Weller noted.

Ainsley shrugged, returning to the paper in front of her.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Derek prompted, taking the lead from Dr. Weller.

Ainsley shook her head and Dr. Weller smiled lightly even as Derek's face took on a defeated frown.

"How about we play a game?" Dr. Weller asked, moving to the bookshelves against the wall.

Ainsley simply nodded and Derek tracked his movement through the room with interest. He grabbed a box, moving toward the table across the room and motioning Derek and Ainsley to join him.

"Okay. This is one of my favorite games," Dr. Weller explained as he set up Candy Land.

"I've played this game before," Ainsley exclaimed her eyes brightening.

They began the game in silence, but quickly Dr. Weller was initiating a conversation with Ainsley.

"So. Who played this game with you?" Dr. Weller asked.  
>"My mom. My <em>old<em> mom," she replied, her emphasis on the word old noticed by both of the adults in the room.

"You've never told me about her," Dr. Weller prompted.

"She wasn't very nice," Ainsley sighed, "I don't think she liked me very much. Not like Meredith does."  
>Derek couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips at the mention of Meredith.<p>

"Why don't you think she liked you?" Dr. Weller asked, barely concealing the concern on his face.

"She never wanted me around," Ainsley shrugged, "she always told me that I needed to take care of myself because she wasn't going to."

Derek visibly sank hearing those words spill from his baby girl's mouth. He looked to Dr. Weller for some sort of guidance, but he was scribbling furiously on his notepad. He finally pulled Ainsley's hand into his own larger one and shifted her into his lap, hugging her tightly against his chest and kissing the top of her head gently.

"Ainsley, how did you feel when you lived with your mother?" Dr. Weller asked after a few moments.

"Sad," she replied quietly.

"And what about now? Do you like living with your dad and Meredith?" he questioned, this time shooting a quick glance at Derek.

"Yeah. I like it a lot better there," Ainsley replied as she began to play with the hand Derek still had grasped around her.

They continued to play for a while, eventually going back to the feelings journal and working through some more of the entries, but Derek's mind was stalled on the conversation about Renee. When the time was finally up, Dr. Weller sent Ainsley into the waiting room to retrieve a sticker from Cheryl and turned to Derek.

"I think we've really reached the route of the problem. Ainsley is still somewhat unsure of her place in the family and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that she felt unwanted for so long," Dr. Weller explained.

"Is there anything we can do? To reassure her?" Derek asked.

"Including her in the process is going to be important. It will make her feel like she's wanted and she really cherishes time alone with both you and Meredith. I would suggest some one on one time with her. Reassure her that she is still just as important to you and will always be that way," Dr. Weller answered reaching out to shake Derek's hand.

Derek nodded, thanking the doctor before retrieving Ainsley from the waiting room and making his way to the car with her in tow. He immediately pulled out his phone sending a quick text to Meredith that he and Ainsley wouldn't be home until later before finally pulling out of the parking lot. He drove for several minutes before finally deciding where he wanted to go. They had only been driving for a few minutes before Ainsley seemed to recognize the direction they were heading.

"Are we going to the hospital?" she asked, her head cocked to the side in a gesture that was so familiar it jerked at his already frazzled emotion.

"Just for a minute. I need to grab something," he replied.

A silence settled over the car once again until Derek pulled out his phone. He dialed the number hoping that its intended target wasn't caught up in surgery.

"Hey," Mark answered.

"Hey. I need you to do me a favor. Go to my office and grab that file from my drawer with the name Al James on it and bring it to me. I'll be outside the main entrance," Derek ordered.

"And you can't come in and get it because?" Mark replied sarcastically even as he began to make his way to the office.

"Because I asked you to do it for me," Derek snarked back.

"Okay fine. I'll just stop saving lives and run an errand for you," Mark sighed dramatically before hanging up without another word.

"You're Uncle Mark is annoying," he directed at Ainsley.

Her eyes went wide and her mouth settled into a rounded "o," a face he had seen countless times and knew as the face that proceeded a bought of tattling. He finally pulled up to the main entrance to the hospital and watched the doors for Mark. After several minutes he finally emerged, squinting into the parking lot before finally beginning to approach. He walked to the driver's side door and Derek immediately pushed the button to lower the window.

"Here, but don't think I am going to be your errand boy from now on. This was a onetime thing," Mark said as he placed the folder into Derek's out stretched hand.

"I didn't want to have to get Ainsley out of the car and go all the way upstairs for one file," Derek replied, placing it into the passenger seat next to him.

"Hiya, beautiful," Mark said leaning further into the car so that he could see Ainsley on the other side of the back seat.

"Daddy said you're annoying," Ainsley tattled with a pointed look at Derek.

"He did? Well he's not such a walk in the park himself," Mark smirked with a light jab to Derek's shoulder.

"Thanks," Derek chuckled pushing Mark back out the window, "by the way mom called me. She said you told her she needed to come here for Christmas this year."

"Yeah. I told her that with the pregnancy and everything it would be easier," Mark shrugged.

"You do realize that you just gave all the sisters permission to descend on Seattle like a flock of…some really scary bird I can't seem to think of," Derek joked.

"Yeah well…they can stay with you," Mark replied, turning quickly and rushing away before Derek could argue.

"See I told you. He's annoying," Derek joked before pulling out of the parking lot and driving toward his next destination.

**So next chapter is the big Derek/Ainsley show down…and by show down I mean they are going to have a much needed talk. This was a really long chapter (as in the longest chapter since maybe the car crash chapter in the TaTA…and I think it's longer than that one). That is part of the reason it took a little longer to get up…and also because every time I tried to finish it I would start fretting about the finale and then I just couldn't write. You should review because we have a shiny new review button and we don't want him to feel like the new kid that everyone ignores.**


	13. Chapter 13

Derek and Ainsley pulled up to the house a few hours later, but did not enter. He knew that Meredith was inside, having already picked up Christopher and Jacob, but right then he needed some time alone with Ainsley. He led her around the side of the house, watching through the corner of his eye as she attempted to stretch her steps to match his. The folder was clutched tightly in his hand and he saw her glance over at it several times before they made it to their destination. He sat down in the grass near the lake and patted a place next to him, watching as she fell onto the ground beside him. As he glanced into her eyes, he could see the anxiousness within them and reached over to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The little girl physically relaxed at the gesture and Derek took it as his clue to start. He laid the folder in his lap, opening it carefully to keep the papers in order. He could feel Ainsley inching closer, and craning her neck to see what he was looking at, so he finally spoke.

"Do you remember who Detective James is?" he asked.

Ainsley scrunched her face thoughtfully before shaking her head no.

"He's the man I hired to find you after your mom took you away," Derek replied, looking up from the folder.

Ainsley mouth opened slightly and she scrunched her eyebrows as if trying to understand what Derek was telling her.

"I realized today when we were talking that I never told you how hard we worked to find you," he explained, "we wanted you so much Ainsley."

Derek motioned to the folder in front of him and smiled slightly at Ainsley. She scooted even closer, leaning into Derek's side.

"Every single one of these papers was sent to me by Detective James when he was trying to find you," Derek explained as he began to flip through them.

Ainsley watched with wide eyes as he showed her paper after paper, medical records, day care transcripts, just about every record of her life until the moment the court had awarded custody to Derek.

"I fought for you…we fought for you because from the moment I saw you my heart had a hole in it," Derek tried to explain in a way that the little girl would understand.

"Did Christina fix the hole?" Ainsley asked.

Derek smiled slightly. It was easy to forget just how young Ainsley was. He liked to say she had an old soul.

"No, Christina couldn't fix this hole. Only one person could fix my heart," he chuckled placing his arm around Ainsley.

"Who?" Ainsley questioned, looking up at Derek.

"You," he said quickly.

They sat silent for a moment before Derek picked the discussion back up.

"Listen, I know your mom wasn't really able to take care of you the way you needed her too, but I don't want you ever to think that Meredith and I are like her. We love you so much. No matter what happens with this baby or your brothers, we will always love you to same," he said seriously.

Derek paused to look at Ainsley who sat silent, still seemingly processing what he had just said.

"I know that this year has been hard for you, and you're still adjusting to this crazy family," he paused to watch her shoot him a bright smile, "but you can always come to me with anything. Meredith too. If you're feeling overwhelmed, or annoyed with your brothers, even if you just want some time with us. I can't promise that you will always get the answer you want, but we are here for you no matter what."

Ainsley nodded slightly, but remained silent. He closed the folder, placing it on the ground beside him and shifted Ainsley into his lap. He hugged her close and kissed her head gently. They sat silently for a moment before Ainsley stood up.

"I'm hungry," she shrugged.

Derek laughed slightly and stood, groaning as his body protested.

"Come on, let's go see if Meredith has made dinner yet," he agreed before taking Ainsley's hand and leading her up to the house.

Once inside he sent Ainsley to wash up and went to find Meredith. She was in the kitchen reading a magazine at the bar. She was dressed in a pair of his running shorts and a tight fitting tank top that accentuated her baby bump. He could see that her hair was still slightly damp from a shower and the smell of some sort of casserole permeated the air. He moved toward her dropping a kiss to the top of her head before slipping into the seat beside her.

"Dinner will be ready in a few more minutes," she said without even looking up.

"Are you achy?" he asked automatically remembering Meredith's penchant for hot showers to fight the pregnancy soreness.

"No, I just felt gross so I got the boys occupied and jumped in the shower after I stuck a frozen meal in the oven," she explained.

"We need to talk to the boys about giving Ainsley some space," Derek said.

"Did you talk about that in therapy?" Meredith prompted even as she nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Among other things," Derek nodded, "Ainsley told Dr. Weller that she felt like Renee didn't want her."

He waited for a reaction from Meredith until her lack of response triggered a realization.

"But, you already knew that?" he sighed.

"She told me right after the accident, but it wasn't my story to tell. I figured eventually she would want to talk about it, but she seemed to be doing so well that I just assumed she had put it behind her," Meredith explained.

She moved to the oven, taking the pan out of the oven and laying it on the pot holder already waiting on the counter.

"I feel like we may be working against this for a while. I think talking to her helped today, but until the baby gets here and she sees with her own eyes that nothing will change, we're going to have to be extra sensitive to her needs," Derek said.

"We'll do whatever we need to Derek," Meredith replied.

"I'll get the kids for dinner," Derek suggested, effectively ending the conversation for the time being.

**Okay there you go. It's short, I feel like we are finally making some headway with Ainsley though. So I'm asking a question. Leave your answers in the comments. First off, if any of you were reading Secrets, I'm deleting the story because I lost interest in finishing it. That being said, I've got some extra time on my hands this summer because Jude is going to a day camp program thing this summer (I told you about the move, but I didn't tell you that I decided to become a stay at home mom to Riley and Jude). I have been toying with the idea of writing a series of one-shots depicting various moments from Grey's as they would fit in this universe. I would recreate the iconic moments like the bomb, the drowning, the shooting, and of course the births of the boys. My question is whether or not you would be interested in seeing these moments? Even if you don't want to participate in the survey, you should still leave a review. All the cool kids are doing it.**


	14. Chapter 14

**I know I said Monday, but there was a slight incident in which Riley decided to see if my laptop could swim. My husband was on the floor working on the laptop at the coffee table. Riley then decided to crawl all over him and knocked over a glass of water in the process. My laptop was done and I was waiting to be able to go get a replacement. On the plus side I'll probably update several days in a row because I have several chapters done and feel bad about not updating Monday. This chapter may be one of my favorites I have written.**

Derek leaned over, carefully pressing a kiss to Meredith's cheek and watching as her eyes opened lazily. Blue eyes met green and he smiled. She started to rise, but Derek placed a hand on her shoulder effectively holding her down.

"No, stay in bed. Go back to sleep. I have plans for me and the kids," he ordered, dropping to place another kiss, to her lips this time.

"Where are you going?" she asked through a yawn.

Derek simply smirked slinking from the room without a word.

"Hey, you can't just kiss me and leave without an answer. It doesn't work like that," she called just as he made it through the door.

She heard a deep chuckle sound down the hall as he retreated before falling back into the bed. Derek made his way back downstairs where the kids were waiting patiently for him to return.

"Where are we going?" Christopher asked immediately.

"Shhh. It's a secret for mommy," Derek whispered as he perched Jacob on his hip and swung the diaper bag full of emergency supplies on his shoulder.

He ushered them all outside and loaded them in the car, waiting until they were a good distance away before finally answering Christopher's question.

"Okay. We're going shopping for the baby's room," Derek explained, "I want to surprise Meredith with a finished nursery tomorrow."

He glanced back in the mirror to watch Ainsley's reaction. Dr. Weller had told him to involve her in the baby process and he figured that furniture and paint was far enough removed to be the best way to go about it. He hoped that one day he might be able to take her to a sonogram appointment, but he was counting on this to get her more excited about her new sibling. Ainsley's eyes met his in the mirror, but he couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"What do you think Ainsley, do you want to help me pick out the bedding for the baby's nursery?" he asked watching as her face scrunched in thought.

"How are we going to pick out stuff when we don't know if the baby is a boy or girl?" Ainsley questioned.

Derek smiled despite himself. He was always amazed at the insight such a little girl could show.

"We'll buy something that isn't too girly or boyish," Derek answered.

"Oh, and I can really help?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Yes you can. I can't do it by myself," Derek smiled noting that Ainsley seemed to be showing some excitement.

"Wow," she gasped her gaze moving back out the window effectively ending the conversation.

They pulled up to the store a few moments later and Derek again settled Jacob on his hip before leading them inside.

"Okay, first we need to pick out some furniture," Derek explained before leading them to one corner of the store where various models were set up.

"Hi, I'm Ellen can I help you find anything?" a woman greeted them.

Her hair was short and gray and her face showed signs of age. Derek guessed that she was in her late 60's. If he remembered correctly, from their visit many years before when Meredith was pregnant with Jacob, she was the owner. He opened his mouth to speak, but was immediately cut off by Christopher.

"We need baby stuff because mommy has a baby in her tummy," he said proudly.

"Well I think we can take care of that," Ellen replied warmly to Christopher before returning her gaze to Derek, "what exactly are you wanting to get today?"

"We need pretty much everything for the nursery. We already gave away all of this little one's stuff when my brother had his little boy, so we're basically starting from scratch," Derek explained, motioning to Jake who clung shyly to his neck.

"Well I see you were planning to start at the furniture," she smiled walking with them toward the models, "what color were you thinking? Wood finish or would you rather it be painted?"

"Definitely wood," Derek nodded firmly before adding, "dark wood."

"I like the round bed daddy," Christopher shouted as he peered through the bars of a circular model.

"What do you think Ainsley? Do you like the round one?" Derek asked.

"It's okay," she shrugged, but Derek saw her eyes drifting toward a crib with a high back panel.

"Do you like that one better?" he whispered to her watching as he eyes grew wide and she nodded.

"Alright Jacob? Which one is your favorite? This one?" he pointed at the round crib, "or this one?" he motioned to the crib Ainsley had chosen?"

Jacob simply buried his face in the crook of his neck, not quite ready to speak in front of the stranger.

"I like the more traditional one," Derek finally said pointing to Ainsley's choice.

"Okay. That option actually comes as a set with a matching changing table/dresser combo," Ellen noted.

"Well that was easy," Derek smiled.

"Gliders?" she questioned motioning to another section.

"Actually, no. My wife has a rocking chair my mom gave her that she keeps in our room for that purpose. I already ordered, picked-up, and hid a custom cushy armchair for the nursery," Derek answered.

"Well that leaves bedding," she suggested, walking a few feet over to a wall covered with bedding samples.

Derek placed Jacob on the floor and leaned toward the woman.

"Ummm…I know this isn't really in your job description, but I promised my daughter that she could help me pick out the bedding all by herself and well…I'm sure you've noticed Christopher is a little over zealous when it comes to stating his opinions," Derek whispered, "could you maybe keep them occupied elsewhere for a few minutes."

Ellen smiled warmly with a knowing look in her eyes.

"How about you come with me boys, and we can look at some stuffed animals for the baby," Ellen said brightly to the two little boys.

Derek watched as she grabbed Jacob's hand gently, Christopher followed her excitedly to a large display of stuffed animals a few feet away.

"Okay, princess. What do you like?" he asked Ainsley.

"Ummm…I can't see them all," she noted as her eyes scanned the rows of fabric.

Derek smiled slightly before stooping to hoist her onto his hip. Her eyes moved darted back and forth settling on one pattern and then another before finally stopping on one in particular. She tilted her head as if in deep thought. Derek watched her as she contemplated the pattern for a long while, waiting patiently for her to speak.

"I like the whale one," she said pointing to a green and blue chevron patterned bumper with a quilt covered in pastel colored sea life.

"You don't think it's too boyish?" he asked her moving toward her selection.

"No. It's good," she said with a bright smile on her face.

"Alright, ocean bedding it is," Derek confirmed before walking over to Ellen and the boys.

Jacob grasped a penguin firmly in his hand and Christopher seemed to be unable to choose between a blue dog and a red dinosaur. Ellen was listing facts about each animal in an attempt to help him decide, but looked up when Derek entered her line of vision.

"Did you make a decision?" she directed at Ainsley.

"Yeah, the one with the fishes," she answered proudly.

"That's a good choice," she nodded before standing from her crouched position on the floor. Are you going to have the furniture delivered or are you going to take it home now?" Ellen asked.

"Today," he replied, "I brought the big SUV especially for that reason."

Ellen smiled moving toward the back of the store. He heard her call to someone and a young man appeared from behind a closed door. She spoke to him quickly and he nodded, before returning through the door. She moved back toward Derek and the kids.

"I have Paul getting the furniture and bedding from the stock room. Is there anything else you need help with or would you just like to look around for the next few minutes while he gets it together?" she directed to Derek.

"We'll look around. You never know when you'll see something you have to have," Derek chuckled watching as Christopher seemed to finally make his decision and returned the dog to the stack of animals.

Ellen simply smiled before returning to her place behind the checkout counter.

"Do you want to pick an animal Ainsley?" Derek asked.

Ainsley nodded before sliding from his grasp and moving to the stack. She quickly selected a gray dolphin and glanced back at Derek who smiled brightly. They walked around the store for awhile picking out a few more toys, some books, and several picture frames before taking the stuff up to the checkout counter and paying for it. Shortly after, Paul pushed a cart through the door with the furniture boxes and bedding stacked on top and Derek led him to the car before directing the loading. When they finally pulled out of their parking space, Derek felt rather accomplished. He pointed them in the direction of the nearest home improvement store. They found a parking spot and fought through the mass of people trying to get their weekend project supplies. Derek was glad he had grabbed one of the big shopping carts when he realized how busy the store was because keeping track of three loose kids would have made the shopping trip even more stressful. He had opened the bedding and pulled out the quilt in order to match paint colors and was hoping to find some shelving to hang. They made it to the paint counter without incident and a attendant helped them pick out a green color that complemented the quilt nicely and then made a beeline for the shelving picking out a couple of free hanging shelves before making their way from the store and back home. He dialed Mark's number on the way home waiting as it rang several times. When Mark finally answered he could hear Sean screaming in the background.

"Will you hold on a minute?" he asked exasperatedly.

Derek heard the screaming get louder and Mark's voice speaking softly to the infant before the crying stopped and Mark finally spoke again.

"I swear this kid has two settings. Perfect angel and screaming lunatic," Mark sighed.

"Is he giving you a hard time?" Derek asked barely concealing a laugh.

"I put him down for two minutes to get Kennedy a drink and he acted like I tried to kill him," Mark replied.

Derek didn't even try to stifle a chuckle this time.

"Shut up! What do want?" Mark snapped.

"Are we still on for tomorrow?" Derek finally asked.

"Yeah. Lexie said that she and Christina are going to kidnap Meredith by 9 so we'll be over there then," Mark replied, "how exactly are we supposed to do this with five kids running around?"

"Quantity. Ben, Jackson, Karev, and Owen all volunteered to help. I figure with all of us there we can keep an eye on the kids and get the nursery done in no time. I promised beer though so we'll see how that goes," Derek explained.

"Okay man. I'll see you tomorrow," Mark said quickly as a new round of screaming started, this time obviously Kennedy's.

Derek listened as Mark began to scold her for something before the click sounded signaling the end of the phone call.

**That was long. So obviously the inspiration for the next chapter was the deck building episode. I thought we could all use a break from the serious issues, but I still wanted to advance the story line. Obviously we can see in this chapter that Ainsley is getting better. Her sessions with Dr. Weller are not finished, but I'll mostly just be alluding to them until I think we really need to see one, or I want to show Ainsley's progress. I would love a review even though I made you all wait so long for an update.**


	15. Chapter 15

Derek eyes snapped open as something small jutted hard into his back. He continued to lay unmoving on his side, facing the wall while gentle shushing and quiet giggles sounded from behind him. When again he felt a hard kick into his back, he rolled over quickly, grabbing Christopher without a word. A loud squeal filled the air as his fingers sought out the ticklish area along his ribs, and a round of giggles erupted as he found it.

"Stop," Christopher finally yelled breathlessly and Derek immediately loosened his grip, settling the little boy against his side.

"Why are you in my bed?" Derek feigned annoyance, glancing at Meredith over the boy's head.

Christopher's eyes got wide and he looked to Meredith for help.

"No sir. You can tell daddy why you're in here," she shook her head, barely concealing a smirk when her eyes met Derek's again.

"I just love you," Christopher shrugged, looking at Derek with the apparently genetic McDreamy smirk.

Derek reached up to run a hand over Christopher's head shaking his head slightly when his hand the recently shortened hair.

"I miss his curls," he directed to Meredith with a sigh.

"He outgrew them," Meredith shrugged, ran her fingers along his head.

Derek placed his hand over Christopher's eyes and leaned over to kiss Meredith, but had only just touched his lips to hers when Christina barged through the door.

"Ewww. What are you doing? There's a kid in here," Christina snarked with a frown.

"Seriously? I thought we were done with this our room is your room thing when we moved," Derek whined.

Christina rolled her eyes, although whether because of what he said or the dramatic way in which he was trying to convince Meredith he wasn't in on the ruse Derek wasn't sure.

"Come on Mer. We have plans," Christina ordered.

"What plans? I didn't make any plans," Meredith sputtered looking at Derek confused.

"You need clothes. I'm sick of seeing you in _his_ clothes just because you refuse to go buy any maternity clothes that actually fit," Christina explained while shooting a glare at Derek with the word "his."

"Will you be okay all by yourself with the kids again? You had them all day yesterday," Meredith asked Derek.

"Yeah we'll probably just hang out. Maybe do some fishing or something," he shrugged.

Christopher looked between the two adults in the bed before his eyes scrunched in confusion.

"No daddy you said we were going to…" Christopher got out before Derek clapped a hand over his mouth.

"What was he about to say?" Meredith asked shooting an accusatory look at Derek.

"I don't know. You should probably get ready though," Derek feigned innocence shooing her from the bed.

Derek had just watched Christina drive away with Meredith a mere half hour before when Mark pulled up. He watched as he parked the car, freeing Kennedy from her seat before perching Sean on his hip.

"What? Were you waiting down the road for her to leave?" Derek joked, looking at the watch on his wrist.

"Lexie called me and told me to jump on the ferry as soon as Christina called her to let her know they had left," Mark shrugged, hoisting Sean up as he followed Derek into the house.

"Alright I figured we could get everything taped off before the other guys get here so it'll be ready for paint," Derek said as he led Mark into the kitchen where Ainsley, Christopher, and Jacob sat eating breakfast.

"Let's go. Speed it up. I need you done with breakfast so Uncle Mark and I can go start working on the nursery," Derek ordered with a clap of his hands to emphasize the urgency.

They got the older four kids occupied in the playroom and set up a play pen in the hall for Sean before entering the room across the hall from the master suite. They had barely finished taping off room when the doorbell rang signaling that someone had arrived. Derek sidestepped the play pen and made his way downstairs opening the door to Owen. The others arrived soon after and Derek handed out paintbrushes. Later that afternoon they had finished painting and built all the furniture, clumping in the middle of the room as fans blew the paint dry. They sat scattered on the porch, nursing beers and watching while the kids played on the playscape in the backyard. Suddenly a shrill scream shot through the air and Mark cursed under his breath. He stooped to pick up Sean from the grass where he had been crawling and started to walk back and forth across the ground. Derek watched amused as Mark tried and failed to get the infant to quiet before standing and pulling him from Mark's arms. Derek jostled him a bit and he immediately quieted before beginning to play with the buttons on Derek's shirt.

"Every time!" Mark whined as he fell back onto the porch step.

"What do you mean?" Owen asked Mark.

"We have somewhere around a dozen nieces and nephews and every single one of them hates me but loves Derek," Mark explained as Derek returned to his place with a now content Sean.

"They don't hate you. They just like me better," Derek smirked, placing the baby on his lap.

They sat silent for a moment longer before Derek finally stood and ushered them back inside to finish up their little project. When Meredith, Christina, and Lexie finally reappeared later that night, everyone except Mark and Owen had left. Derek immediately led Meredith upstairs and covered her eyes before uncovering the work they had done.

"It's amazing," she gasped as her eyes roamed over every inch of the room.

She moved toward the wall where a large picture frame hung with a picture of them taken as family portraits the previous fall. She held Jacob in her lap and Derek held Ainsley while Christopher stood above them making some ridiculous face. Derek and Ainsley were looking back at him while Meredith was struggling to keep Jacob looking at the camera. She ran her finger lovingly over the frame before turning to the cushy white chair. She patted the stuffed animals displayed in it and finally her eyes locked on Derek's.

"You are very sneaky," she smirked, "how did you get this all done."  
>"The kids helped me shop yesterday and a bunch of the guys came over to help me get everything done in here today," Derek explained moving forward to pull her into his arms. She tilted her head back and her lips met his, but the moment didn't last long.<p>

"Again?" Christina spit from the doorway.

"This is my house. You just happen to think you can barge in as you please," Derek returned releasing Meredith and stepping back so that she could hug and thank everyone.

"The door was open this time," she snarled looking around the room, "it looks like cotton candy threw up in here."

"Cotton candy is pink?" Meredith replied with a confused look.

"I meant pastel-y," Christina shrugged.

"That's not a word," Meredith giggled.

When they finally had a moment alone that night after the kids were in bed, Meredith laid facing Derek in their bed.

"Now that the nursery is done, this is all getting really real," Meredith whispered.

"It wasn't real?" Derek asked reaching out to rub a hand down her arm.

"I mean like it's getting closer. We need to start thinking of names. Packing bags. Making plans for childcare while we're at the hospital," Meredith listed, her voice becoming increasingly anxious.

"Calm down," he soothed, reaching forward to press his lips to her forehead.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as he pulled away. When she again opened her eyes, Derek could see that the nervousness had melted away.

"I know where we can start," Derek whispered.

"What do you mean?" she questioned lifting her head off the pillow slightly.

"I was thinking Lillian for a girl, Lily for short, or maybe Sarah. Aaron for a boy. Erin might be nice for a girl too, though. I also like Max. Not Maxwell, just Max," Derek replied, his hand continuing to run along Meredith arms and his eyes closed.

When he finally opened his eyes, Meredith was staring at him intently her eyes glassy with tears.

"I love you," she finally said after they lay in silence for several minutes.

**The name that I choose will not necessarily be from that list. I'm still not even entirely sure whether it is going to be a boy or a girl. You should leave your opinion on the matter in the reviews because it will help to hear some different thought on the subject. Mine just keep pulling me back and forth.**


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm still not sure whether the baby will be a boy or a girl, but those of you who reviewed and expressed your thoughts…THANK YOU. Can I also say that I read back over that last chapter and there were an insane amount of typos. I swear those come out of the fact that I am pouring juice and changing diapers and scolding toddlers while writing. I'm sorry not only for those, but all the ones I'm sure have been present in everything I've written. At this point I decided a time jump was in order. It is now November at Thanksgiving time which puts Meredith at 31ish weeks. One last thing before I get to the actual chapter, we all know Meredith and Derek are doctors and can probably read an ultrasound, but for my story they purposely don't try to figure out the sex of the baby.**

Ainsley sat sprawled across Derek's lap, as they waited in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. Meredith sat beside them texting Lexie incessantly about the Thanksgiving get together they had planned for the next day.

"Are you excited to see the baby?" Meredith asked Ainsley when she finally looked up from her phone.

"Yes," she said, her genuine excitement making Derek's heart soar.

Over the past few months with Dr. Weller's help, Ainsley had a complete change of heart about the baby. It hadn't happened overnight, but slowly Ainsley had begun to talk about the baby. Now it wasn't unusual for Derek to come home to Ainsley with her head on Meredith's belly reading to the baby within. He and Meredith had talked for weeks about whether or not to let Ainsley attend the next sonogram appointment and had only the day before decided it would be beneficial in helping her to feel involved.

"Are we going to find out if it's a brother or a sister?" Ainsley asked, looking up at Derek.

"Not today princess, remember? We're going to wait until he or she comes out of Meredith's tummy," Derek replied, grasping Meredith's hand and smiling at her.

"What time is it?" Meredith asked suddenly.

Derek pulled up his sweater sleeve, glancing at his watch.

"It's 2:00," Derek answered.

"Okay. Your mom gets here at 5. That should give us plenty of time to get the boys before we have to pick her up at the airport, right?" Meredith asked, again picking up her phone.

"As long as we get in there in the next few minutes…why didn't you get Mark to pick her up?" Derek replied.

"Because I promised her I would," she sighed.

Derek noticed the slight edge in her voice and decided that they need a change of subject. However, before he could come up with one, Meredith's name was called. They filed into the room where the ultrasound would take place and Meredith crawled up on to the table. Derek settled into the seat next to her and pulled Ainsley into his lap. Derek began to explain to Ainsley exactly what was about to happen when the technician entered the room.

"Hello Dr. Grey. Oh, I see we have a guest today," their regular tech, Lauren, greeted, "are you here so you can see your baby sibling?"

Ainsley nodded silently watching in complete wonder as Lauren began to set up the machine. She sat up even straighter as the gel was squirted onto Meredith stomach.

Lauren pressed the wand into Meredith's stomach and she flinched slightly immediately setting Ainsley on alert.

"Does it hurt?" she asked behind wide eyes.

"No baby. It just feels a little funny," Meredith reassured Ainsley as Derek placed his arms securely around her.

"Alright, I've got the profile up," Lauren reported with a wide smile.

Ainsley looked at the black and white image, her mouth falling open and a tiny gasp escaping. Derek tightened his arms bringing her back into his chest and pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

"You see, there's the nose and the mouth," he whispered into her ear, a wide smile breaking on his face.

A new picture came up revealing a foot and then a hand and the spine and Derek beamed as Ainsley watched intently, taking everything in.

"Everything looks good. It looks like we're right at 11 inches and about 3 and a half pounds," Lauren noted as the images flashed by, "I'm just going to print these off. You're free to clean up."  
>"Thank you," Meredith replied as she grabbed the towels to wipe off the gel.<p>

Lauren left the room and Ainsley slid from Derek's lap immediately turning around to face him with a large grin on her face.

"That was so cool," she squealed, practically shaking in her excitement.

"I guess it's safe to say she liked it," Meredith joked as she stood and placed her hands on Ainsley's shoulders.

They made their way from the office, Ainsley talking animatedly about the ultrasound. Derek could hardly contain his joy and Meredith was also wearing a grin, as she went on and on. Meredith checked her phone and found a message from Carolyn Shepherd indicating that her flight was on schedule and she would arrive on time. Glancing at the clock, she urged Derek to hurry, knowing that they would be cutting it close. They stopped to pick up Christopher and Jacob at the hospital daycare and swiftly made their way toward the airport.

"Are we gonna get Nonna?" Christopher asked from the back seat.

Meredith turned around as best she could in her current state.

"Yes, are you excited to see Nonna?" she replied.

"Uh huh. I missed her," Christopher confirmed, nodding his head.

"Ainsley, why don't you tell your brothers what the baby looked like," Meredith suggested.

"It was all white and I got to see its head and its feet and then the lady told us how big it was and she printed us a picture," Ainsley rambled rapidly.

Christopher listened with rapt attention and soon they were pulling into an empty space at the airport. Derek shut off the car and got out, immediately pulling Jacob onto his hip and helping Ainsley and Christopher crawl from the car. The entire family made their way to the entrance where Carolyn would be meeting them. Carolyn appeared mere minutes later and was immediately bombarded by the two older children before making her way to greet Jacob, Meredith, and Derek.

"How are you doing?" Carolyn directed to Meredith as her eyes found her abdomen.

"We just came from an ultrasound. Everything looks good," Meredith replied as Carolyn immediately shook her head.

"I didn't ask about the baby. I asked about you," she reiterated shooting Meredith with a pointed glare.

"I'm very tired," Meredith sighed as Carolyn placed her arm around her shoulders and followed Derek and the kids outside.

"He's helping you isn't he," Carolyn whispered loudly, laughing as Derek turned his head and frowned.

"Of course," Meredith giggled, "he was always really good at helping me when I was pregnant."

"Oh, well good," Carolyn nodded as they reached the car.

"I guess you raised him right," Meredith smirked as they piled into the car.

The ride home was filled with chatty children and reports about the state of the family still in New York.

"I still can't believe they agreed to you coming out here for Thanksgiving," Derek said as they pulled into the driveway at the house.

"I told them that it simply made more sense for me to come out here this year. With the pregnancy Meredith couldn't travel and you couldn't come to New York last year because of work. Plus I haven't seen Sean since he was born. I needed to be here this Thanksgiving," Carolyn explained as they made their way into the house.

"I thought at the least they would be heading this way," Derek added.

"And I told them that descending on this house with a few dozen people would not be good for Meredith right now," Carolyn replied with an exasperated sigh, effectively ending that particular conversation.

"Would you like to see the picture of the baby?" Meredith changed the subject moving to her bag to pull out the picture.

"Of course," Carolyn smiled.

After seeing the picture, Meredith led Carolyn upstairs for a tour of the nursery. She gushed over the story of Derek's surprised and then sent Meredith to bed to rest before heading back downstairs.

**I will not be updating again before at the earliest Friday. I got craziness going on this week, sorry guys. It's a big chapter though! I'll probably update _How Did We Get Here? _at the same time as this story. The boy vs. girl issues is still up for input for those of you who have yet to do so…and as always reviews are appreciated.**


	17. Chapter 17

Meredith woke up in the middle of the night with a throbbing pain in her lower back and the need to use the restroom. She silently scooted from the bed and made her way toward the master bathroom, but was stopped by a sudden tightness in her abdomen. Meredith took a deep breath as she waited for the tightness to dissipate. She had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a week now, so she thought nothing of it and continued her walk to the bathroom. She had just sat down when she saw the dark red stain.

"Derek! Derek!" she yelled shaking his shoulder violently.

He finally opened his eyes taking a moment to figure out that it was Meredith who had woken him before he jumped up worried.

"What happened?" he asked as tears began to roll down her face.

"I don't know. Something's wrong, I'm bleeding and I think I might be having contractions. Derek it's too early," Meredith cried.

"Go downstairs right now. I'm taking you to the hospital. I'm just going to get your bag and tell mom," Derek ordered, immediately taking control of the situation.

The drive to the hospital was peppered with loud sobs from Meredith and Derek's voice as he tried to soothe her. He screeched to a stop in a parking spot and was out of the car in record time, leading Meredith toward the door. Once in the ER, Derek wasted no time running to the nurse's station.

"Dr. Shepherd?" the nurse at the desk greeted him.

"My wife. She's pregnant and she's bleeding," he exclaimed breathlessly.

The nurse's eyes went wide and she immediately called for wheelchair before dialing the number to the maternity ward. Everything seemed to go by in a blur as Meredith was whisked away and Derek followed quickly behind her. He helped her change into a gown and got her settled on the exam table without breaking down. He even held it together after Dr. Majors came in and informed them that she was in labor and they would have to give her medicine to stop it. When Dr. Majors came in several hours later to still progressing labor and a baby who was under distress, she told them that she was going to have her prepped for an emergency c-section. Finally Derek could no longer hold it in, he had tried to be strong for Meredith, but he had to excuse himself to the hall. He barely made it through the door when his body was racked by a deep sob. He slid to the floor with his arms on his knees and allowed the tears to flow freely. After several minutes, he wiped them away roughly and was preparing himself to return to the room when he caught a glimpse of Mark rushing down the hall in his blue scrubs and scrub cap. Derek stood quickly, wiping his face with his hands yet again and sniffing harshly.

"Mom called me; I got here as soon as I could leave surgery. What's going on?" Mark asked quickly placing his hand on Derek's shoulder and squeezing, his own way of providing a little support and comfort.

"They couldn't stop it. She's being prepped for a c-section," Derek gulped and sniffed yet again.

"They'll be okay Derek. She's at 31 weeks. Those are great odds," Mark replied, clinging to what little hope he could muster.

"We can't…I can't…" Derek tried before shaking his head and clenching his jaw.

Mark nodded sadly, squeezing Derek's shoulder one last time before releasing it and watching as he made his way back into the room. Meredith's eyes were closed and her hands were resting on her stomach when he walked into the room. He could see the still glistening tracks from the tears on her face, but she looked oddly calm.

"Mark's here," Derek finally stated, not able to find any other words.

"He'll call Lexie," Meredith nodded faintly opening her eyes to find his, "they'll be here in a few minutes to take me."

"Meredith…" he started, but his thoughts immediately drifted away when he saw the tears reforming in her eyes.

He moved to her quickly, pulling her into his arms without pause and pressing kisses to the top of her head. He tried several times to murmur soothing words to her, but every time the words seemed futile and he closed his mouth without a word. The moment ended when a couple of interns walked in with a gurney and began explaining what was going to happen. Derek slipped from the room and made his way to his office, preferring to change into his own scrubs rather than the disposable ones reserved for expectant fathers. He had just tied on his scrub cap and walked into the scrub room when Arizona found him.

"Mark called me. I'll be in there the whole time, and I paged Alex in. You're going to have the best working on that baby Derek," Arizona assured him as she fell in beside him at the sink.

"Thank you," he managed to choke out, before dried his hands he pushed through the door into the operating room.

He took his seat next to Meredith's head, his hand moving up and running over her head. Leaning down he whispered "I love you" softly so that only she could hear and pressed a kiss to her cheek. He stood and watched as Dr. Majors cut into the skin on her abdomen, but soon fell back into his seat, unable to watch her being cut into any longer. Time seemed to slow down as he waited for someone to tell them what was going on. He had almost willed himself to stand and check on their progress when a very small, very weak cry sounded from the other side. The baby was immediately transferred into Arizona's waiting arms and she without a word she began to work. It was only after the baby had been wheeled away with Arizona shouting orders that Derek thought to ask whether it was a boy or a girl. He turned to Dr. Majors and got her attention.

"Was the baby a boy or girl?" he asked, his eyes seeking Meredith's and then returning to the doctor's.

"I didn't see. I'm sorry; we were trying to move quickly. I'll find out for you," she said, the part of her face that was visible looking apologetic.

They finished with Meredith and wheeled her into the recover y room while Derek followed closely behind. He was sitting next to the bed, stroking Meredith's arm as she once again allowed the tears to fall, when Alex entered the room. Derek immediately stood, clasping Meredith's hand tightly in his.

"He's small," Alex started.

"He?" Meredith cut him off with a gasp.

"Yes. It's a boy," Alex confirmed with a slight smile.

Derek fell back into his seat with his mouth agape.

"Like I said, he's small…only 3 and a half pounds, but he's strong. He grabbed my finger and he wouldn't let go. He's on a ventilator and he's being monitored closely, but there doesn't seem to be anything of immediate concern. He's okay," Alex explained.

Derek was immediately holding Meredith as best he could with her incision. Alex backed from the room without another word intending to find Mark, who had been stalking the halls for hours, and give him a report so that he could call others. After several moments, Meredith and Derek broke apart and he moved back into the chair again, taking Meredith's hand in his yet again.

"He still needs a name," Meredith finally said after silence had fallen over them.

"Yeah," Derek agreed, his hand reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"I remember one name. Wyatt, it means little warrior," Meredith suggested as her eyes met Derek's.

"Seems fitting," Derek agreed with a slight smile.

"Wyatt Matthew. Wyatt Matthew Shepherd," Meredith said testing the flow of the words.

"Wyatt Matthew Shepherd," Derek repeated, "I think it's perfect."

**I bet you didn't see that one coming. It's short, but it was a BIG chapter. I was trying really hard to get it up yesterday, but like I said, it was a crazy week. Neither of my babies where premature nor were they c-sections so I was just kind of going along with what I thought seemed reasonable…and I also realize them not knowing the gender is highly unlikely, but I really wanted Alex to tell them so I'm going to pretend that it's possible. I ended up going with my first instinct which was boy because I like the idea of Derek having the opposite of what his mother had, although she had one more girl I believe. Finally, I lied about having a chapter of _How Did We Get Here? _up with this one. I had a chapter just about finished, but then I decided I didn't like what I had done with it so I'm redoing it. Hopefully it will be up next week. As always reviews are appreciated.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Yeah for day camp! I sat down and wrote this entire chapter during naptime because I didn't have to fight Jude the whole time. That means that I'll probably update a couple of times this week. Also I really appreciated all the reviews. There is nothing better than opening my email and seeing a bunch of review alerts.**

Meredith and Derek sat anxiously waiting for several hours as Arizona ran further tests on Wyatt. They tried to snooze, but the combination of worry and need to see the baby was making it hard to sleep. After waking up yet again, Derek made up his mind to inquire about visiting Wyatt and was about to step out of the room when an elderly nurse walked through the door. She checked Meredith out, asking her questions about her pain level and testing whether the epidural had worn off. Finally after a thorough inspection, the nurse smiled at them.

"Would you like to go and see your son?" she asked gently.

Meredith's face lit up as she nodded enthusiastically, trying to push herself up in the bed.

"Oh, hold on sweetie I've got a wheelchair coming," she chuckled as Derek stood up, prepared to help maneuver her out of the bed.

They moved slowly when the wheelchair got there, much to Meredith's dismay, but eventually Derek was pushing her down the hall toward the NICU. They made their way inside, scrubbing their hands and donning the pink protective gowns. They immediately know which incubator held their baby because Alex sat next to it with a stack of charts in his lap. Derek wheeled Meredith over and without a word she thrust her hand into the incubator and began to stroke the tiny hand. Derek hung back and asked Alex about the baby, allowing Meredith to have her time with Wyatt. After several minutes, he approached the incubator, settling in beside Meredith and marveling at the tiny infant. He walked to the other side, reaching in through one of the holes and grasping a tiny foot in his hand. He measured it against his fingers, amazed at the way his thumb completely dwarfed it. He looked up and found Meredith looking at him intently and it was only then that he realized there were tears making their way down his face. He smiled, letting her know he was okay and moved his hand up to gently stroke the fuzzy blonde hair that covered his head.

"He has your hair," Derek noted catching Meredith's eyes again.

Meredith smiled back at him with a nod and resumed her exploration of his fingers and toes. They stood there for hours talking softly and reveling in the tiny baby until Alex convinced them they needed to rest and shooed them from the NICU. They made their way to Meredith's room in silence. When they had made it back, Derek helped Meredith back into the bed and watched as sleep immediately overtook her. After he was sure she had drifted off, he slipped into the hallway, pulling out his phone. He realized he had no idea how many hours had passed since they had left the house and glanced at a clock on the wall noting that it was nearing noon which meant that they had been at the hospital for over 14 hours. He dialed his mother's number waiting patiently as it rang several times. Finally his mother's voice came over the line.

"Hello," she greeted, her motherly tone immediately taking away some of his anxiety.

"Hey," he returned softly, "how're the kids."

"Oh, they're great. They're worried about their mother and brother, but okay for now," Carolyn answered.

"Brother? You know it's a boy?" Derek asked confused.

"Mark called this morning. He didn't tell us his name though," Carolyn replied.

"Wyatt. Wyatt Matthew," Derek answered unable to help the smile that graced his face, "he's beautiful Ma, but he's so tiny."

Carolyn smiled behind the phone, but was soon distracted by Ainsley pulling on her hand and attempting to get her attention. Derek heard his mother's voice muffled as if she was covering the receiver.

"Ainsley would like to know when she can come see Meredith and the baby," Carolyn repeated as Ainsley looked on expectantly.

"Meredith is asleep right now, but in a few hours you can bring them up here. My keys are on the counter and there is a GPS built in…" Derek started, but was cut off.

"There'll be no need for that. Mark can bring us up there. He and Lexie are here helping me with the kids," she scoffed. Derek chuckled despite himself at the authority in her voice. It still amazed him how even as a grown man, with a wife and kids, his mother still often spoke to him as if he were a child. When he didn't respond further, Carolyn spoke again.

"Ainsley would like to talk to you," she explained as Ainsley once again pulled on her hand.

"Okay," he sighed, not sure what he was willing to say over the phone to the sensitive little girl.

"Daddy?" he heard her voice after a brief moment of shuffling on the phone.

"Hi princess," Derek sighed.

"Is mommy okay?" she asked.

Derek's mouth hung open and he struggled to find a coherent thought in his brain. Ainsley had never called Meredith mommy before, and he was at a loss for how to react.

"Daddy?" she repeated when the silence went on for a little too long.

"I'm here princess. She's okay. She's asleep right now, but later on Nonna and Uncle Mark will bring you up here to see her," he finally managed to croak, deciding not to make a big deal out of the "mommy thing."

"Oh. Okay. And we can see the baby?" Ainsley questioned.

"Yeah. You can see the baby," Derek confirmed still not entirely recovered.

"Okay. Here's Nonna," she ended the conversation abruptly.

"Derek, are you still there?" Carolyn asked once the phone was back in her hand.

"Yeah Ma. I'm here," he replied.

"Alright. I'll let you get back to Meredith and we'll see you in a little while," Carolyn said.

"Yeah," he agreed, "bye. I love you Ma."

"I love you too Derek, and congratulations son. I know this isn't an ideal situation, but you've been blessed with another little boy," she responded.

"Thanks," he returned before ending the call.

He walked back into the room and found Meredith still asleep, so he settled into the chair beside the bed, determined to catch a few hours of sleep himself. He awoke several hours later to Meredith calling his name. He finally snapped awake and reoriented himself before he realized why Meredith had woken him. She motioned to the door just as someone knocked sharply on it.

"I think we have visitors and I can't exactly answer the door," she shrugged as he lifted himself out of the seat.

He padded across the room with a yawn and pulled open the door only to be immediately bombarded by three little bodies. He pulled Jacob from his mother's arms and led his mother, Ainsley, and Christopher into the room.

Christopher immediately tried to jump up next to Meredith, but Derek used his free hand to grab him by the belt loop and return him to the ground.

"You have to be careful, mommy has an ouchy," Derek ordered glancing at Meredith.

"It's okay. Come here baby," she said to Christopher patting the place beside her on the bed.

Carolyn helped him to settle in beside her and then helped Ainsley crawl onto the end of the bed at Meredith's feet.

"Are you really okay?" Ainsley asked, no longer satisfied with either Derek or Carolyn's words.

"Yeah. I'm okay. I have an ouchy like daddy said, but I'm okay," she confirmed, locking her eyes with Ainsley's.

"Can we go see the baby now?" Ainsley asked excitedly turning to Derek.

"Well, we need to talk to you about the baby," Derek started moving to sit in the chair with Jacob on his lap.

"Your brother was born before he was completely done growing, so he doesn't look like the other babies," Meredith started, trying to help the kids understand.

"Like Sean, and Bailey," Ainsley asked, referring to the two cousins who had been born within the last year.

"Yeah, he looks different than they did. He's very little, and he has some tubes attached to him," Derek explained adding, "but he's okay," quickly after Ainsley's face fell.

Christopher glanced between them, and they knew he didn't quite understand, but they knew they had at least prepared Ainsley. Meredith pressed the call button requesting a wheelchair so that they could make their way down to the NICU. As they walked down, Derek suggested that Carolyn take Meredith inside while he brought the kids to the window. Carolyn agreed and pushed Meredith into the sterilization room, as Derek began to tap on the glass getting Alex's attention. He smiled seeing the other children and wheeled the incubator closer so that they could see the baby.

"What's that thing daddy?" Christopher asked immediately pointing to his own mouth to indicate what he was looking at.

"That's hooked up to a ventilator," he explained, "it's helping him breath because his lungs aren't working right yet."

"And what's that thing up his nose?" Christopher questioned scrunching his nose.

"That tube goes all the way down to his tummy. It's his way of eating right now," Derek replied, trying to keep his answers simple enough for the children to understand.

"What's his name?" Ainsley changed the subject suddenly, much to Derek relief.

"Your brother's name is Wyatt Matthew Shepherd," Derek said, shooting a smirk toward Meredith and his mother as they made their way over to the baby. "Can you say Wyatt?" he directed at Jacob.

"White," he said excitedly.

"Close enough," Derek laughed, knowing that he would be outgrowing the toddler speak soon enough.

"He's really cute," Ainsley noted, "he looks like one of my dolls."

"Can we going in and see him?" Christopher asked, watching as his Nonna cooed at the baby.

"No buddy. We have to be really careful because he could get really sick. So right now only me, mommy, and Nonna can go in there," Derek replied.

"And Uncle Alex?" Christopher questioned, shooting him a suspicious look through the glass.

"Uncle Alex is Wyatt's doctor," Derek chuckled, squeezing Christopher's shoulder lightly, "how about we let Nonna and mommy have some time with the baby and we go pick out some flowers for mommy."

The two eldest children cheered enthusiastically and Derek shot a quick text to Alex, knowing that Meredith didn't likely have her phone before leading them down the hall and to the elevator. They rode down to the gift shop and Derek allowed them each to pick out a small gift before finding an acceptable arrangement of flowers. He paid for their purchases and was leading them back to the room when he found Mark and Lexie, entertaining Sean and Kennedy in a waiting room.

"Hey, we saw him. He's adorable," Lexie said, standing to hug him.

"Thanks," Derek replied as Mark stood to give his own hug.

"Thank goodness he looks like Meredith. I don't think I could deal with another little Derek running around," Mark joked.

Derek simply shook his head, speaking with them for a few minutes before again making his way toward the room. They walked through the door and were immediately met with Christina camped out in the bed, clad in scrubs, and flipping through the channels on the television.

"Meredith's in the NICU," Derek said, bypassing a greeting.

"I know, I saw her down there," Christina spit before adding, "congratulations on another little McDemon."

Derek shook his head before setting the flowers down next to another arrangement that had apparently been delivered while they were down visiting the baby. He read the card, seeing that they were from the hospital and then tucked it back into the holder. Meredith returned to the room not long after explaining to Derek that they were running tests on Wyatt yet again.

"I just realized something," she said after she had received the gifts and they had talked for several minutes.  
>"What?" Derek asked looking up from his phone which had been blowing up with texts from his sister's for the past half hour.<p>

"We bought all that food for Thanksgiving dinner and we're spending it in the hospital," she sighed.

Derek laughed lightly, "so we'll eat a traditional turkey sandwich."

**I felt like this was needed so that we could get a feel for the kids reactions. And I promise I am not going to sweep that "mommy thing" under the rug. I just figured I would give you something to look forward to because you know there is going to be some baby drama coming up. **


	19. Chapter 19

**I'm just going to stop predicting the next update because it seems like every time I try fate is like "oh no you don't" and decides something ridiculous is going to happen. On top of life getting in the way I wanted to make this chapter believable so I was trying to figure out the medicine. I did quite a bit of medical research on premature babies for this chapter, but the standard disclaimer about not really knowing because I haven't experienced it still stands. Okay…the next chapter.**

It was much later that night after the kids had gone home with Carolyn that Derek decided to tell Meredith about his phone call with Ainsley earlier. They sat on either side of the incubator in the NICU, visiting Wyatt one more time before trying to get some sleep. Meredith was gently stroking Wyatt's soft hair as the baby held tightly to Derek's finger.

"Something happened earlier. I didn't want to discuss it while the kids were here because I didn't want to embarrass Ainsley, but she uh…she called you mom," Derek whispered, watching Meredith.

Meredith's eyes went wide and she stared at Derek speechless for several minutes.

"Did you ask her about it? Wait…when did she say it? Was it like you said mom and she just repeated it or did she just say it?" Meredith suddenly seemed to snap back to life and fired off questions in quick secession.

"Uhhhh…" Derek stuttered before attempting to answer, "No. I didn't ask her about it. It was just her and I wasn't really sure what the protocol would be in that situation."

"I wish you would have told me earlier. I should have talked to her, or maybe we should leave it alone. Bringing attention to it would probably embarrass her, wouldn't it?" Meredith rambled.

Derek smirked, standing up and reaching across the incubator to press a kiss to her forehead.

"That's why I didn't tell you earlier. I knew you would freak out. Honestly I think maybe we should leave it alone for now. I definitely think we should talk to her, but when everything isn't so crazy. And I definitely think we should do it at home so we can sit down without interruptions. Well, at least not any hospital type interruptions," he replied.

"Yeah. I can't guarantee a poker face if she says it again though," Meredith smiled.

"I'm just lucky I was on the phone," Derek chuckled back as their attention returned to the baby between them.

It wasn't long before Alex ordered them to get some sleep and once again kicked them out of the NICU. Derek wheeled Meredith back to her room where they both fell quickly asleep. Arizona burst through the door the next morning and found both Derek and Meredith awake and getting ready to head to the NICU.

"Hey," Meredith greeted cheerily as Derek positioned himself behind the wheelchair she was in.

Derek started to add his own greeting before he saw the worry hidden in Arizona's eyes.

"What happened?" he asked immediately moving from behind Meredith and taking her hand gently.

"His heart stopped twice during the night. We got him back both times, but Alex noticed his skin was starting to turn purple. I need your permission to start him on Dopamine. His heart just isn't strong enough yet," Arizona sighed.

Tears immediately began to fall down Meredith cheeks and Derek's eyes grew glassy with tears he refused to shed. Arizona stared at them, fighting the urge to hug Meredith. Derek suddenly released Meredith's hand, taking several steps forward before pulling Arizona from the room.

"Did you do a sonogram? Were there any abnormalities?" he asked, still fighting the tears.

"Yes, Christina did a sonogram this morning. She said both chambers are full size, but the muscle just wasn't ready to work on its own yet," Arizona replied, reaching out to place a hand on Derek's arm, "he needs the Dopamine. You know the complications?"

"Yeah. Irregular heart beat and over tiring of the heart," Derek sighed.

"Alex hasn't left that baby's side. He slept in the NICU last night and he says he's not leaving today either. He'll monitor him closely. We'll catch any complications immediately," Arizona reassured him, squeezing his arm lightly.

"Okay. Do it. Start the Dopamine," Derek nodded as the tears he had kept at bay finally broke free and fell silently down his cheek.

He watched as Arizona walked away before roughly wiping away the tears and coughing in an attempt to clear the lump in his throat. After he composed himself somewhat, he reentered the room moving to Meredith who was still sitting in the wheelchair sobbing.

"I told her to start the Dopamine," he sighed squatting down in front of her.

He placed his hands on her knees and caught her eyes with his.

"He'll be okay. Alex is taking good care of him," he tried bringing his hand to her cheek.

Meredith simply nodded through her tears before allowing Derek to help her back into the bed. She scooted to one side, pulling Derek's hand until her climbed in beside her and then burying her face in his chest. They lay like that for hours, Derek whispering softly into her hair and Meredith dozing on and off. At some point Carolyn showed up and Derek quickly ushered her outside and updated her on the latest development. When he reentered the room, Ainsley was in the midst of a story gesturing wildly bouncing on her heels.

"And then Uncle Mark said I couldn't do the monkey bars and I told him I could, but he didn't believe me. But I can so I made him hang me up there like daddy does and then I showed him and he gave me 5 dollars because I went all the way by myself," Ainsley said quickly, running words together in her excitement. "See look mommy," she finished pulling a brand new five-dollar bill from her pocket.

Derek stopped in his journey toward the bed and his eyes sought Meredith's. There was a slight twitch in the corner of her eye that let Derek know she was trying to hold her poker face and he could practically see the gears working in her head to find words.

"Wow," she finally replied, "when you get home you should put it in your piggy bank."

"I know, but Nonna said I could keep it to show you," Ainsley agreed.

Jake who was perched on the foot of the bed reached for Derek, so he pulled the little boy into his arms. Immediately the little boys head fell to his shoulder and his nose nuzzled into his neck. Carolyn returned from the hallway and smiled slightly at the pair.

"I think that one may be a daddy's boy. Ainsley and Christopher ask about mommy, but Jacob asks about you," she explained moving toward the chair next to the bed.

There was a sudden knock on the door, and Alex entered with a tired smile.

"Uncle Alex," Christopher exclaimed, launching himself into the newcomer's arms.

Alex only barely had time to react catching him and flipping him upside down. A loud shriek cut through the air but was quickly silenced when Alex returned him to his upright position. It was only then that he remembered why he had made the trip down there in the first place.

"He's showing improvement. His blood pressure is still fluctuating, but we aren't seeing drastic numbers like before," Alex explained through a happy smile.

The adults in the room let out a collective sigh of relief and the children looked on confused.

"His bilirubin levels are elevated. He's under the light right now," Alex continued, "but I have some more good news. Arizona thinks he may be able to come of the C-PAP sometime tonight. His lungs seem to be strong enough to switch to a cannula."

Derek actually smiled and the tears that began to fall from Meredith's eyes were obviously the happy kind. Ainsley crawled up next to Carolyn and Christopher snuggled up to Meredith. Alex took it at his cue to return to the NICU, leaving the little family to celebrate the small victory in peace.

**It's shorter than they have been, but it was the best spot to end it. So Wyatt's heart is weak, and Meredith heard the "m word." I've already decided the next chapter will be focused on Ainsley and a therapy session, but we won't leave Wyatt long. Reviews are awesome. Thanks for reading!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I swear I didn't forget about this story. There was an issue and Jude hasn't been attending that camp during the day, so I am back to entertaining two little ones, which is putting a crimp in my ability to write during the day. I wrote this chapter in chunks over the last few days just so that I could update a couple more times before I have to go on hiatus. We're going on vacation next week so this story is going on hiatus until August after hopefully one more update by Friday. It's only a few weeks but I still feel crummy because I haven't been updating like I want to. Now that that's out of the way, I can't believe we are at chapter 20 already but here it is.**

Mark held Ainsley's hand tightly with one hand, and held Sean on his hip with the other, as he led them across the parking lot and toward the building. When they had made it in the building and to the elevator, he released her hand so that he could push the button and she looked up at him with a slight frown.

"What's wrong Ainz?" he asked as he scrunched his eyes in worry.

"Nothing," she shrugged.

He fell to one knee in front of her, settling Sean on the ground beside him and grasping her thin shoulders in his hands.

"Come one Ainz. You can tell me," he tried a slight smile creasing his face.

"Wyatt's been in the hospital for a long time," Ainsley sighed.

"Yeah, but he's getting better," Mark nodded standing back up as the ding signaled the arrival of the car.

"But when Aunt Lexie had Sean he came home really fast," Ainsley noted, seemingly trying to work out the situation.

"But Sean was born when he was supposed to be. Wyatt came too early," Mark tried to explain as they stepped off the elevator and found the office.

"When is Wyatt going to come home?" she questioned, finally asking the questioned that had been weighing on her mind for several days.

"Well," he stalled as they entered the office, trying to figure out the best way to answer, "Have you talked to your parents about this?"

"Daddy told me soon, but that was four days ago," Ainsley sighed dramatically.

Mark shook his head slightly as he signed Ainsley's name to the sign-sheet and then led them to the waiting room, settling Sean beside him.

"Okay. Ummm…Wyatt is sick. You know that, right?" he waited for a nod, "Well, he's getting better, but he has to get even better to be able to come home. So, it could be a just a little while longer or it could be a few more weeks or even months. We just have to keep hoping that he'll get better."

Ainsley looked intently at Mark before silently nodding and returning her gaze to the therapy room door. Mark let out a woosh of air, glad he had been able to handle the situation. He and Lexie had been staying with Carolyn and all five kids, while Meredith and Derek stayed at his apartment in order to be closer to the hospital, ever since Wyatt had been born. Ever since he had been in charge of older children who actually understood what was being said, he was increasingly paranoid that he was going to say something dumb in front of one of the kids. He followed Ainlsey's gaze to the door just as Dr. Weller walked through it, calling Ainsley's name. She looked at Mark before scooting off her chair and following the doctor through the door. Ainsley hopped onto the couch as soon as the door closed and watched as Dr. Weller rummaged through his files before taking his seat across from Ainsley.

"So Ainsley, your dad called me last week when you missed your appointment and told me the baby was born," Dr. Weller fished, trying to read Ainsley's mood.

"Yeah. I got another brother now," Ainsley explained excitedly.

"Can you tell me his name?" he asked noting the obvious difference between the Ainsley he had first met and the one in front of him.

"Wyatt," Ainsley replied.

"Well, I thought today we would play a game. How does that sound?" Dr. Weller questioned, watching as Ainsley shrugged in response.

He moved to the shelf where he kept the supplies and pulled Candy Land from its designated spot. He had found throughout the sessions that Ainsley was willing to speak more when they played this particular game. He began to set up the game at the table while Ainsley approached and took her seat.

"Dr. Weller? Can I tell you a secret?" Ainsley asked as he straightened the cards and set them next to the board.

"Of course, I'm really good at keeping secrets," he smiled taking his seat and looking at Ainsley.

"I want Meredith to be my mommy," Ainsley said shyly, looking at the hands in her lap.

"Oh," the doctor stumbled before collecting his thought, "have you talked to Meredith about how you feel?"

"I called her mommy, but she didn't say nothing about it," Ainsley shrugged.

"Maybe she didn't know what to say," Dr. Weller tried to make the little girl understand.

"Maybe," she replied quietly.

"I think maybe you should talk to her. She needs to know how you feel," Dr. Weller suggested.

"Yeah," Ainsley agreed as she moved her piece around the game board.

They continued to play the game, talking about the new baby and her latest revelation about her relationship with Meredith. When their time was finally up, Dr. Weller stood and followed Ainsley to the door.

"Now remember what we talked about. It's up to you to talk to Meredith," Dr. Weller smiled as Ainsley walked through the door.

Ainsley smiled at him and nodded before walking over to Mark. Mark stood and waved slightly at Dr. Weller before leading Ainsley from the building.

"Did you have good talk with Dr. Weller?" Mark asked as he buckled Sean into his carseat.

"Uh-huh," Ainsley mumbled as she clicked her own seatbelt into place, "are daddy and Meredith at the hospital right now?"

"Ummm," Mark glanced at his watch, "I think they might be at the apartment by now. Meredith's check-up was supposed to be at the same time as your appointment and then they were going to go back to the apartment for a little while before going back for Wyatt's feeding."  
>"Can you take me over there? I need to talk to Meredith," Ainsley asked, her face determined.<p>

"Uhhh…sure," Mark replied confused.

He hopped into the driver's seat and pulled out of the parking lot pointing the car in the direction of the apartment. He couldn't help but keep looking back at Ainsley, wondering what she could possible want to speak with Meredith about.

**You can probably guess what is going to happen in the next chapter. I am going to try my hardest to get a chapter up by Friday night, but if that doesn't happen I promise I will update at least one more time before we leave. Reviews are super appreciated. And let me just once again say I am sooooooo sorry for the lack of updates over the last however many weeks. Thanks for reading.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Whew…last chapter before the very short hiatus and it's a doozy. I'm really happy with how it turned out because I had this idea in my head of how I wanted this particular relationship to go, but no idea of how I would get it there. Then suddenly it clicked a few chapters ago and I was like "ah that's how it must be done" which means this story is coming to a close. Obviously I won't leave Wyatt in the hospital, so we'll have several more chapters after this one, but be warned it's getting close. As far as plans for after it's done, I think I'll probably play around in the "How Did We Get Here?" world for a while and then eventually come back to do another story in this series. So don't fear, you will eventually get to see Wyatt, Jacob, Christopher, and Ainsley again.**

Mark sent a quick text to Derek, as they sat at a red light waiting, informing him of their pending arrival. Meanwhile, Ainsley was becoming increasingly more nervous the closer they got to the apartment. She played quietly with Sean in the seat beside her and hummed quietly, trying to distract herself from the task at hand, but as with any little kid, the distraction didn't last long. When they finally pulled up to the apartment, Mark turned in his seat.

"I assume you need to talk to them by yourself," he said as his eyes surveyed her face for a clue.

"Yeah," she replied starring back at him.

"Alright, I'll take you up there, and then Sean and I are going to raid Callie and Arizona's fridge. If you need me, you know where to find me," he explained as he started to unbuckled his seat.

Ainsley nodded unbuckling herself and slipping from the car into parking garage. Mark unbuckled Sean and situated him on his hip before leading the little girl to the elevator and watching as she automatically pushed the button for his floor. She rocked back and forth on her heels, her hands tucked firmly into the pocket on the front of her hoodie and an unreadable expression set on her face. The elevator dinged, signaling their arrival, and Ainsley didn't even wait for Mark before bolting toward the door. Mark caught up with her and knocked quickly, listening as he heard shuffling from behind the door. When the door opened, Derek stood before them looking slightly worn, but with a bright smile on his face.

"Hi baby girl," he greeted as he pulled Ainsley into his arms.

"I'll leave you to it," Mark murmured from the hallway before turning to the door across the hall and banging loudly.

Derek only just saw an extremely annoyed Callie open the door before he closed his door and ushered Ainsley inside.

"So, Uncle Mark said you needed to talk to us about something," Derek said as he sat on the couch, pulling Ainsley into his lap.

"Where's Meredith?" she asked glancing around the apartment for any sign of her.

"She'll be just a minute. She wanted to change clothes after we got home from the hospital," Derek replied, noting that Ainsley had ignored his question.

"Is Wyatt big now?" she questioned, stalling so that she could talk to the person she actually needed to.

"You mean since the last time you saw him yesterday?" he chuckled, "no he's still just little Wyatt."

"Oh, but he's bigger than he was right? Because Nonna said that he has to be big and strong before, so that he can start getting better," Ainsley recalled.

"Yup. He's gained quite a bit of weight since he was born, are you still worried because he hasn't gotten out of the hospital? Is that what you want to talk to us about?" Derek tried again to figure out the reason behind the impromptu visit.

"No. Uncle Mark explained it to me. He has to keep getting better, so we don't know how long he has to be there," she replied once again looking around the apartment.

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened and Meredith emerged in a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt. She walked over to them falling onto the couch a looking at Ainsley intently.

"So, I'm told you really needed to talk to us," Meredith started as Ainsley slipped from her father's lap into the space on the couch between her parents.

She turned so that she was facing Meredith and took a deep breath before finally starting to explain what was weighing on her mind.

"At school, Jackson Spader told me that I didn't have a mommy because she was dead, but I told him I did have a mommy because I had you, but he said it didn't count because you aren't my real mommy. So I wanted you to be my real mommy, so I called you mommy because I thought that might work, but you didn't say anything about it and Jackson Spader said that you could only be my real mommy if you 'dopted me. So can you be my mommy?" Ainsley rambled quickly before her eyes dropped to her hands and her cheeks turned pink.

"Woah," Derek spoke first before looking at Meredith in shock.

Meredith's eyes had gone wide and every thought she had disappeared from her head. The silence lasted for several minutes until Meredith knew if she didn't do something, Ainsley would get her feelings hurt. She threw out her hands gathering the little girl tightly into her arms before starting to sob loudly. Derek wiped the tears that had started to make their way down his cheeks and smiled brightly at Meredith as she rocked the little girl in her arms. They rode out the moment; simply revealing in the fact that Ainsley was finally really accepting her role in the family before Meredith straightened herself up and sat Ainsley back on the couch in front of her.

"Okay. First off, Jackson Spader does not know what he is talking about. Whether I adopt you or not, you are MY child, which means I am your mother. Second, do you know what adoption means?" Meredith asked.

"It's like when a mommy and a daddy find a baby that they want so much that it doesn't matter if they belong to them or not. And then they sign some papers and the baby gets to go home with them," Ainsley explained the adoption process to the best of her knowledge.

"Yeah, pretty much, but if I adopt you, our relationship won't change. You realize that right? I love you already, no matter what a piece of paper says. So if you don't really want to do this, we don't have to do this," Meredith said and then noting the sudden sadness in Ainsley's eyes added, "But I would really like to. I'm not saying I don't. I just want you to be comfortable with it."

Ainsley's eyes sought each adult's face before turning back to Meredith.

"If you adopt me, I can still call my mommy, my mommy right?" Ainsley asked.

"Honey, I don't want to take the place of your mommy. If I adopt you, you just get to be one of those lucky kids who got to have two mommies," Meredith explained.

Ainsley seemed to be in deep thought once again before she finally broke into a big smile.

"I think I like that idea. I got to have two mommies and a daddy, she said excitedly, "When you adopt me that means I can call you mommy right?"

"You can call me whatever you want baby," Meredith smiled.

Derek who had been watching the whole exchange through a steady stream of tears seemed to be unable to hold back anymore. He scooped up the little girl, plopping her onto his lap and wrapping his arms tightly around her before showering her head with kisses. He finally stopped and gave her one more squeeze before speaking.

"I love you so much," he said.

He reached his hand up and motioned for Meredith to join their little pile before he settled back into the couch, excitedly at the future for his family and happy to have his two favorite girls in his arms.

**Ahhhh…I died. I'm pretty sure after I wrote that I had cavities. It was just too ridiculously sweet and fluffy. It's a good chapter to have before the hiatus I think because it just makes you feel good about the story. Hopefully it will tide you over until August. Review because it makes me feel good. Thanks for reading and for sticking with this story!**


	22. Chapter 22

**I'm back from a much needed vacation and ready to get back to this story. Yeah! I decided it was time that this family has got to be together again, especially with the Ainsley situation going on, so without further ado…the next chapter.**

Derek paced back and forth across the floor, shooting glances at Wyatt where he sat in his carrier. Meredith sat across from him in a chair with her knees pulled up and her eyes trained on the baby in front of her.

"How long has it been?" Derek sighed, as he paused in his incessant movement.

"It's only been ten minutes. You really need to stop pacing, you're freaking me out," Meredith replied before returning her eyes to the baby.

"I can't help it. I feel like we've been working and working toward this and all that stands between him going home and having to stay here is an hour in that carrier. I can't sit down," he argued before starting to pace again.

Meredith glanced at the window to the nursery and smiled when she found three little faces pressed against the glass. She waved happily before getting Derek's attention and motioning toward the window.

"Since you can't sit maybe you should go greet them," she ordered.

He moved toward the door without further comment and exited pulling off the pink gown and shoving it into the waste bin before pushing through the final door. He made his way over to where the kids stood with his mother, and pulled Jacob into his arms.

"Why's Wyatt not in his bed?" Christopher questioned immediately after Derek had greeted and hugged all of them.

"He has to sit in that carrier for an hour and if he can do it without getting sick then that means he can come home," Derek replied pointing toward the carrier.

"I helped Nonna clean the house real good," Ainsley stated pulling on Derek's free hand.

"She was very helpful. With all 5 kids in that house it needed a good scrubbing before Wyatt comes home," Carolyn added, "I rewashed all of the linen and re-cleaned all the baby stuff before we came down here. Everything should be ready when you bring him home."

"Thanks Ma," Derek replied, reaching over to press a kiss to her cheek.

Jacob took this moment of distraction to make his presence once again known, yelling "mommy" and banging his tiny hand on the window. Meredith looked up and smiled, waving yet again to the children before her eyes drifted back to the baby.

"It's going to be another 45 minutes, so why don't you take them down to my office. Ainsley knows how to turn on the cartoons," Derek suggested.

"No. We are going to wait right here. You and Meredith shouldn't have to do this alone," Carolyn argued.

"Ma, they're going to get bored really quickly. There isn't much we can do right now, it's a waiting game. Take the kids, distract them for a little while and I promise I will call you," Derek tried as he pressed his office key into her hand.

"Okay. Call me as soon as he's released," Carolyn relented pulling Jacob from his arms and grasping Christopher's hand in hers, "Ainsley, lead the way."

Derek watched them leave before making his way back into the room. He pulled up a chair, dropping into it and leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Sitting?" Meredith smirked.

"It was freaking you out," he shrugged his eyes settling on Wyatt still sleeping in the carrier.

The next half hour drug by slowly and just as they had reached the 45 minute mark, Alex entered the room. He grabbed one of the rolling stools scattered around the NICU positioned it beside Meredith's chair before settling onto it. He opened Wyatt's chart and pulled out a pen before addressing Meredith and Derek.

"Sorry I got caught up with a kid in the ER. How long has he been in there?" Alex asked.

"He's got 15 minutes left," Meredith sighed.

Alex nodded before beginning to scribble in the chart.

"Sat was good? No bradycardia?" Alex questioned looking up from the chart.

"He's been fine so far," Derek replied stretching his legs out in front of himself.

"Good," Alex nodded, making another note in the chart.

They were silent again. Nurses bustled by checking babies. Incubators were wheeled by and monitors beeped, but Meredith and Derek heard only the gentle rasping breaths of their baby. When there were only 10 minutes left, Derek stood and resumed his pacing along the path he had followed earlier. Meredith's eyes were trained on Wyatt, when she saw his eyes open slowly. She saw his bright blue eyes roll around before his face scrunched and reddened. She sucked in a breath and cursed softly, knowing that the little boy was about to completely meltdown. Derek's eyes found Wyatt too and he moved quickly to the carrier, patting his belly gently.

"Shhh. Just a few more minutes buddy, come on. You can do it," he begged as Meredith held her breath behind him.

Despite Derek's efforts, a loud cry erupted from the tiny baby and Meredith looked at Alex desperately.

"Alex, it's basically been an hour, please!" she pleaded.

"Okay. You can take him out. And I'll get the paperwork started so he can go home," Alex replied, with a smile.

Derek quickly unbuckled the baby and brought him to his chest patting his bottom gently and listening as his distressed cries quieted to a pathetic whimper. Meredith followed Alex as he stood to leave and grabbed him around the middle in a tight hug. When she released him, she placed her hand on his shoulder lifting up to kiss him on the cheek.

"Thank you for everything," she exclaimed.

He simply nodded before excusing himself and leaving the room to find Arizona and get the paperwork together. Meredith moved back across the room and joined Derek. He carefully transferred the small boy into her arms and moved toward the nearest nurse to get a fresh diaper so that they could change him as Meredith moved to the chair and settled him in for a feeding. She threw a blanket across herself and smiled as Derek returned with a fresh diaper and the supplies to give him a quick sponge bath.

"While you're doing that I am going to run to my office and get his bag and update mom," he explained, dropping a kiss to the top of her head patting Wyatt through the blanket.

"Okay," Meredith replied, watching as he moved toward the exit and disappeared through the door.

He returned moments later, with the baby bag on his shoulder, just as she finished with Wyatt's feeding. He grabbed the baby as Meredith readjusted herself and began to strip Wyatt of his clothing readying him for his bath. After discarding the used diaper in the trash and laying the now naked baby on the changing station, he grabbed the washcloth out of the warm water.

"Okay buddy. I'm going to try and do this quickly, but I need a little cooperation from you. No peeing on the daddy," Derek muttered before bumping his fist against Wyatt's tiny one.

"Does that work?" Meredith chuckled as she walked up beside him.

"I like to think so, but Chris and Jake both got me a few times each, so maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better," Derek replied as he ran the washcloth over Wyatt's thin dark hair.

Meredith moved to the bag where it sat next to the now abandoned carrier. She dug through the bag and pulled out the tiny preemie bodysuit that Lexie had brought her a few days ago when they found out he might be going home soon. It was baby blue and the words "little brother" were written across the chest. She also pulled out a blue and white striped hat and a pair of tiny baby socks before returning to Derek's side. He had already put a new diaper on Wyatt and she handed him the clothing, watching as he put them on the baby. After he was dressed, Meredith pulled him into her arms and sat back in the chair, rocking him as he fell back to sleep. They had been waiting for several hours in the NICU when Alex finally returned with an impish grin and stack of papers.

"You know the drill, sign and date. Mark already took care putting all of the equipment in your car and he also took care of the car seat check a few days ago, so as soon as you sign those papers, you're ready to go," Alex explained, thrusting the paperwork into Derek's hands.

Derek signed his name quickly before carefully pulling the sleeping baby from Meredith and allowing her to sign her own name as he placed him into the carrier once again.

"I can't believe we're finally done," Meredith sighed as she handed the signed paperwork back to Alex.

"I'm going to walk you out," he replied, tucking his pen back into his pocket.

Derek gathered up the diaper bag and other various things that they had brought into the NICU as Meredith stood and picked up the carrier.

"You still need to go get your mom and the kids," Meredith said to Derek.

"Oh, Mark already went to get them. He already took them back to the house so that you could just hurry and get him home," Alex explained.

Derek nodded and Meredith shrugged before following Alex from the room and out of the hospital.

**So, a nice long chapter to make up for the super long wait. I'm going to try and stick to updating every week again, so hopefully it won't be too long before you get to see Wyatt's actual homecoming.**


	23. Chapter 23

**I'm thinking that we're probably going to make it to 30 chapters in this story by the time I finish off the Ainsley situation, so that should give you all an idea of how far off we are from the end. It's possible that it may wrap sooner or may take a few extra chapters, but 30 seems like a good estimate. With that said, here is the next chapter.**

**Update: So funny story. I thought I posted this when I finished it last week, but apparently not. I almost posted the next chapter before I posted this one. On the plus side that means I already have the next chapter written and could be persuaded to post it as soon as tomorrow.**

Meredith hummed quietly as she watched Wyatt snooze in his carrier.

"I'm glad Mark took the kids with him. We would have had a problem keeping them in the car the whole ferry ride," Derek said absentmindedly as he drummed against the steering wheel.

"It'll be a few months before I'm willing to take him up onto the passenger deck, so we still might have to deal with that," Meredith replied, her eyes meeting Derek's as he turned around toward her.

"We'll figure it out," he shrugged, craning his neck to look over the back of the car seat at the baby, "looks like he'll be a car sleeper."

"Maybe," Meredith replied, running a finger gently over the baby's tiny fist.

Suddenly a mass of people entered the ferry's car lot, scrambling to get to their cars.

"We must be getting close," Derek noted, turning back around in his seat and clicking his seat belt back across his chest.

The wait to exit the ferry seemed to take longer than usual, but as they finally inched up the driveway toward the big house in the woods neither parent could help the large smiles that had crept across their faces.

"I can't believe we are finally back home," Meredith sighed as the car engine shut off.

"Me either," Derek agreed before he slid from his seat and hustled around to help Meredith from the car.

He opened the door and waited as Meredith slipped from the car and then moved to release the baby carrier. Meredith held the baby bag on her shoulder as she waited for Derek to right himself.

"Here I can take that," he said pulling the bag from her shoulder.

"I'm not invalid Derek. It's been a few months since he was born," she scoffed reaching to grab the baby carrier from him.

"I've carried both of our boys into our house for the first time, I'm not stopping that tradition just because you're a little stronger this time around," Derek huffed brushing her hand away.

She made a big show of rolling her eyes, but had to hide a smile that refused to be tamed with her hand.

Derek cocked an eyebrow smugly before turning toward the house and setting off toward the door with Meredith following behind him.

They had barely reached the front porch before the door opened wide and a mass of people ushered them into the house. They were lead into the living room and were immediately met with a large pile of wrapped gifts.

"Where did those come from?" Meredith gasped stopping short of the pile.

"I think I have an idea," Derek shook his head locking eyes with his mother, "those would be from my sisters."

"Well some of them are Christmas presents and others are just because, the kids opened there's but his have just been here waiting," Carolyn explained with a shrug.

"I'm not quite ready to deal with that yet. We'll open and catalogue tomorrow," Meredith joked before moving toward the nearest couch and sitting down grabbing the carrier from Derek's hand and pulling Wyatt from the seat.

Ainsley and Christopher were immediately at her side looking at the baby while Jacob seized his chance to latch onto Derek. Meredith reached up to grab a wet strand of Ainsley's hair and scrunched her eyes confused.

"Did you just take a bath?" Meredith asked, noting that Christopher's hair was similarly damp.

"Nonna said we needed to be clean if we wanted to hold Wyatt," Christopher replied presenting his hands for inspection.

"We put on clean clothes and everything," Ainsley added.

"Well Nonna was right. How about you go let daddy wipe your hands with sanitizer and come sit down so you can hold him," Meredith suggested, watching as their faces lit up and they rushed to Derek.

"We're going to leave. Mark's already got the kids wrangled, he was just waiting for me to say my goodbyes," Lexie said, rubbing a hand gently over the baby's head.

"Thanks for everything," Meredith replied with a smile as she watched Lexie wave and disappear through the entryway.

Ainsley and Christopher approached cautiously climbing onto the couch and settling in next to Meredith. Meredith stood, carefully positioning Wyatt in Ainsley's arms before stepping back.

"That calls for a picture," Derek beamed as he grabbed a camera from the diaper bag and placed Jacob in the now unoccupied space on the couch.

He stood back centering the picture and calling for smiles before snapping a quick picture and then repeated it with his phone.

"You better send that to your sisters, they've been dying for pictures," Carolyn said, motioning toward the phone in his hand.

He shook his head and rolled his eyes, but relented sending the picture out to them before depositing the phone back in his pocket. Wyatt was quickly losing patience with the tiny hands that were currently poking and prodding him, so Meredith stepped forward and pulled him into her arms.

"I'm going to go feed him again, it's been a few hours since he last ate," she noted before making her way up the stairs. Derek picked up Christopher and sat down before placing him in his lap.

"So, how did you like getting to see your baby brother up close?" he asked.

"He's squishy," Christopher answered quickly.

"He's really little," Ainsley added.

"Yeah, he is pretty little still. I know we already talked about this, but Wyatt is pretty fragile. I know you want to help with him, but you cannot ever pick him up or hold him unless Mommy and I say it's okay," he explained.

"What if he's crying?" Ainsley asked, looking thoughtful.

"Well if you hear him crying and you don't think we can then you should come get us so that we can take care of it," Derek answered.

The three older kids had tired quickly as bedtime approached due to the busy day and Derek put them to bed. Wyatt had finished eating and fell asleep, but woke up shortly after the older children had gone to bed wanting to again be fed. Derek walked into the room falling onto floor next to the rocker and pulling out his phone.

"I got replies from my sisters earlier," Derek said.

"Really?" Meredith replied looking up at him.  
>"Kathleen said he's really cute, Sarah said she's trying to get a flight said she can't wait to meet him, Nancy said she's trying to get a flight out here next week," he looked up to see Meredith's wide eyes, knowing that the two had a less than perfect relationship he reassured her, "I told her to hold off for a while. And Amy said he looks exactly like Jacob when he was little."<p>

"Really? I think he looks more like Christopher," Meredith replied gazing down at the baby as he continued to eat.

"She never saw Christopher as a baby," Derek shrugged.

"I like this. Everyone being under the same roof, tucking them into bed again," Meredith sighed.

"Yeah. It's nice," Derek smiled, "now that everything is settled we need to talk to John Hayes about you adopting Ainsley."

"I'm really happy Derek," Meredith sighed her mouth forming into a smile.

"Me too," he agreed before pulling himself to his feet and pressing a kiss to her lips.

**I should really sit down and write down the names of these random characters like Derek's lawyer and the kids teachers. I have to keep going back in the stories and finding what I named them. Anyway, as always read and review.**


	24. Chapter 24

**I cannot for the life of me remember to update this story (even when I say I'll do it the next day apparently…OOPS). Anyway I decided to split this chapter in two because it felt better that way. It made this chapter short though so sorry.**

A few months later Derek and Meredith sat on the leather chairs in the waiting room of Parker, Hayes, and Mendez. Derek was preoccupied with Wyatt who was gurgling happily in his lap while Meredith rung her hands in nervous anticipation. After waiting for Wyatt to get settled at home, Derek had finally gotten his lawyer on the phone and set up an appointment to talk about Ainsley's adoption. They had dropped the kids off at Christina's on the way to the office and had been waiting for several minutes, giving Meredith enough time to start freaking out. Derek looked at her suddenly, noticing the nervous expression on her face, and placed his hand on her knee, patting softly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Derek asked.

"I'm just…What if Ainsley decides later on that she doesn't really want this? Or what if Renee's parent put up a fuss? Everything's been going too well ever since Wyatt got out of the hospital, with our history it seems like we're due for the shoe to drop," Meredith sighed.

"Oh. No," he replied matter of factly, "Jacob threw my pager in the toilet last weekend. We have a little breathing room."

Meredith looked at him and he flashed a cocky smile her way.

"You're making fun of me," she whined pushing his hand off her knee with a flourish.

"Yes we are, aren't we? Mommy's so silly isn't she," he babbled to Wyatt watching as the baby flashed a gummy smile.

Suddenly, John Hayes appeared in front of them and Derek stood to shake his hand, shifting Wyatt to his hip.

"Derek," the lawyer greeted.

"John," Derek returned, "you remember Meredith?"

"Of course," he replied shaking her hand, "and this must be Wyatt?"

Wyatt had already followed the new voice, his eyes wide as he took in the sight of the large man. John Hayes was nearly a foot taller than Derek with a dark complexion and a haircut buzzed close to his head. He was currently clothed in slacks, a button down shirt, and a tie, but as per usual, he had abandoned and jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt giving him a slightly disheveled look.

"Yes sir. This is the newest little monster," Derek replied with a smile as the followed the lawyer to his office.

They took their seats and chatted for a few minutes before finally addressing the real reason for the visit.

"Okay. The first thing we have to do is file paperwork seeking permission from the court. They'll probably contact Renee's parents, but I don't see that being a make or break deal for you. Even if they protest the adoption and it goes to court, the fact that Renee had already lost physical custody before the incident will work in your favor. There may be some social worker visits, but with that last work-up having been a couple of years ago they may wave them, and then we'll just have to cross our T's and dot our I's," John explained.

"Wow," Meredith replied in complete shock, "I didn't think it would be that easy."

"You have a special case, there isn't really an opposing side and the girl already lives with you, so there are a few less legal hoops to jump through," the lawyer shrugged before pushing the button on his phone to speak with his secretary.

The secretary appeared a few moments later with a stack of papers and they proceeded to go over them with John.

It was several hours later when they pulled up outside Christina and Owen's apartment and made their way inside. They found Christina on the couch while Ainsley read through a stack of note cards carefully. Jacob and Christopher meanwhile were fast asleep on the bed at the other end of the apartment.

"Using my child as your own personal study slave?" Derek quipped as soon as he made it completely into the room.

"I took off today because I need to study for my boards; you instead decided to dump your children at my house. Besides, she'll need to learn it eventually. She's going to be a kick ass surgeon aren't you?" Christina replied.

Ainsley nodded animatedly before finally addressing her parents.

"Are you my mommy for real now?" she asked excitedly.

"Not quite, we have to go through all the steps first, but hopefully soon," Meredith replied as she started gathering the kid's things.

Christina finally moved from the couch, reaching to pull Wyatt from Derek's hands and settling him in her own arms.

"You're going to be a doctor too aren't you? All of your Aunt's and Uncle's are doctors, and your mommy and daddy, and probably your sister's and brother's, so if you don't become a doctor we'll all disown you. Isn't that right?" Christina spoke to the baby before being rewarded with a toothless grin.  
>"Don't tell him that. We will not disown any of them if they don't become doctors, only if they don't like the Yankee's," Derek chastised with a smile.<p>

Meredith rolled her eyes before moving to the bed to gently wake the boys. They made their way back to the car before finally heading back home.

**Derek and Meredith are going to receive an interesting phone call in the next chapter. I bet you can guess who. I'm not making any promises for when the next chapter will be up because it never happens like I promise though, but you should still review.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Okay so this is part two of that last chapter (kind of). I originally had it all together but as you can probably tell, it made more since like this because they aren't even remotely happening in the same time period. Anyway, here we go.**

Meredith crept quietly from the bed, pausing only to shut off the baby monitor. She made her way down the hall toward the nursery and quietly entered the room making her way over to Wyatt who chattered excitedly to himself. At six-months old now, Wyatt was looking less and less like the tiny preemie they had brought home. As much as it pained Meredith to think, her little boy was growing by leaps and bounds and had begun to develop a very distinct personality. While all of their children were without a doubt chatty, Wyatt seemed to be even more expressive than the rest of them. He was constantly babbling and shrieking and seemed to be able to carry on lengthy conversation with his various stuffed animals. Meredith bent over the side of the crib grasping the baby and raising him up before settling him on her him and making her way to the changing table. She laid him down and placed one hand on his stomach to hold him steady while she grabbed the necessary supplies to change him. She worked quickly to change him and had just finished when Derek walked through the door with a sleepy smile on his face.

"Good morning," he rasped, his voice still heavy from sleep.

"Good morning," she returned as she picked up Wyatt to settle him again at her hip.

"You could have woken me up. I would have gotten him this morning," he said as he moved into the room.

"You got in late last night," she shrugged, "did the surgery run late?"

"Yeah, and we still lost the guy. He was a grandfather. He was on the way to see his oldest grandson play baseball and now he's gone because someone ran a red light," Derek sighed.

He moved to stand in front of her a pressed a kiss to Wyatt's head before taking one of her hands in his and kissing her fingers lightly.

"Life's too short," Meredith replied, "that's why I'm really hoping that this adoption is quick. I want to make sure Ainsley is going to stay where she belongs if something were to happen to you."

"It's only been a month, John said it would take that long just to get the paperwork through the red tape to start processing it," Derek reassured her as he moved to retreat from the room, "it's pancake Saturday. Do you want to be my assistant?"

"If that means I get to sit there and watch while my very hot husband makes breakfast then yes," Meredith answered playfully as she followed Derek down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Derek began to move around to various cabinets, pulling out the ingredients while Meredith set Wyatt in his highchair and moved to make him a bowl of cereal. The morning went quickly once the other children had woken, and they ended up taking advantage of the rare day without rain by spending it outside in the backyard. Derek was throwing a baseball to Christopher and attempting to help the young boy learn the art of throwing while Meredith sat in the sun reading a book with Wyatt, and Jacob and Ainsley played a game on the playscape. Derek was in the middle of demonstrating the proper place to release the ball when his phone suddenly sounded from his pocket. He groaned outwardly, assuming it was someone from the hospital wanting a consult and fished the phone from his pocket. When he pulled the phone up to his face and squinted to block out the sun, he gasped slightly before quickly turning away from the kids and moving toward Meredith. He fumbled momentarily before finally managing to answer the phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" he croaked.

"Hello. Derek? This is Ray Martin," a gruff voice answered.

"Yes sir. I know," Derek replied, slowly gaining his confidence after the initial shock.

Renee Martin's father was one of the few people who intimidated Derek He was an ex-military man who possessed a no nonsense attitude, especially when it came to his granddaughter's father. Derek often felt that he blamed him for the chaos that plagued Ainsley in the first years of her life despite not having known of her existence. Shortly after Renee's passing, Derek had tracked down her parents, Ray and June Martin, in order to inform them of her death. He had found out that Renee had cut them out of her life when Ainsley was a toddler due to their disproval of her nomadic lifestyle. Since then, Ainsley had spoken frequently with the couple, even going to visit them during the previous summer, but the ice had yet to thaw between Ray and Derek.

"We need to talk," the older man started, "about some paperwork the wife and I just received."

"Yes sir. I assumed you would be calling soon," Derek agreed falling into a chair next to Meredith.

"I gotta say it came as quite a shock. We talked to Ainsley just a few months ago and she didn't say anything about it. Neither did you I might add," Ray said, his tone displaying a slight annoyance with being caught off guard.

"We were a little preoccupied I suppose…with the baby. And we weren't sure how it would all play out, so we were waiting to tell you," Derek tried to explain.

"Well, it's in the past now I guess. June and I aren't entirely comfortable with this arrangement. We've never even met your wife and now you are expecting us to stand by and allow her to adopt our granddaughter?" Ray asked with obvious discomfort in his voice.

"Ainsley loves Meredith and she's the one who came to us with the idea," Derek argued, getting slightly irritated that they were unwilling to give the benefit of the doubt to a woman who had welcomed in their granddaughter with open arms.

"You have to see this from our situation. Ainsley was taken out of our lives for several years and we are just trying to ensure that we are not being ejected from her life," Ray returned, his voice rising at hearing the irritation in Derek's voice.

"Listen Ray, this is going to happen whether or not you condone it. I hope you know that," Derek said.

"Yes, but we can certainly put a crimp in the process," Ray replied.

Both men were becoming less and less calm as the conversation continued and so Derek took a moment to breathe and contemplate his next move before replying.

"Okay. I think we can compromise on this. You want to meet Meredith?" Derek started.

Ray made a slight sound which Derek took as a yes.

"I'll fly you and June out here. You can spend some time with Ainsley, meet Meredith, and at the end of the trip if you see that this is what's best for Ainsley then you sign the papers. If not, well, then you'll just be postponing the inevitable," Derek finished, waiting with bated breath for a reply.

"We don't need you to fly us. I am perfectly capable of funding a trip to Seattle," Ray spit, his pride sporting an obvious wound.

There was a slight sound from the other end before Ray told Derek to hold on and a hand muffled the phone. Derek could hear the mottled sounds of his voice through the phone, likely explaining the plan to June. He heard a sigh sound before a shuffling alerted him to a change of hands on the phone.

"Derek?" June Martin got his attention.

June seemed to be a direct opposite of her husband. Where her husband looked toward Derek as the cause of Ainsley's terrible childhood, June looked to him as her knight in shining whatever. She reminding Derek of his mother, sweet and kind, without a mean bone in her body; but still able to stand her own next to the gruff personality of her husband.

"You'll let us know when you make the arrangements?" she asked, obviously exasperated with her husband's stubbornness.

"Yes ma'am," he replied feeling relief flood his body.

"Okay. We'll see you soon I guess," she said, "bye Derek. Tell Ainsley we said hello."  
>"Of course. Bye," Derek sighed before returning the phone to his pocket and leaning heavily back into the chair.<p>

"Derek you have to tread lightly around him," Meredith chastised after placing the book in her lap.

"He was threatening to delay the adoption," Derek sighed, "I can't reason with that man because he holds a grudge."

"So they're coming to Seattle?" Meredith confirmed.

"Yeah. I need to find tickets, figure out when would be the best time to bring them here, find a hotel," Derek started to list before Meredith cut him off.

"The kids are out of school after Wednesday, so we might as well not put it off. And they won't be staying in a hotel. They want to spend time with me, then they should stay here," Meredith interrupted.

"Ainsley's birthday is in July. They'll probably want to be here for that, but Ma said she'd be here for that because Sean's first birthday is a few days later," Derek explained trying to work out the logistics.

"We have the room Derek. Your mom can stay in Ainsley's room and we'll put up a cot for Ainsley somewhere. Or she can even stay with Mark if need be. I think July will be perfect," Meredith replied, reaching over to place a loving hand on Derek's.

"I guess I need to go start looking for some plane tickets," Derek sighed, standing to make his way into the house.

**I know I painted Ray Martin as kind of a jerk in this chapter, but he's not really. I picture him like Barry Corbin's usual characters, gruff exterior but with a big heart. I'll be skipping ahead to July in the next chapter and let me just foreworn you, Derek is beyond stressed about juggling Ainsley's grandparents, who he has only met when taking her to visit them, and Nonna Shepherd while still dealing with the kids and Meredith, and with the adoption weighing on the back of his mind. Also, reviews have slowed down considerably, I'm not one to beg for reviews, but even the regulars have stopped reviewing (those of you who always review and continue to, you know who you are, thank you!). I know I'm partially to blame because of my issues updating lately, but I really want to read some reviews for this chapter, it's a big one so I think it's possible.**


	26. Chapter 26

**As per the timeline I wrote out, Jacob is 5 which is way too old for how I've been writing him so I'm once again throwing out when he was born and inserting a new one. I think I'm just hesitant to let him grow up. He's only a year younger though so not that big of a change. Anyway, the grandparents have landed, so on with the story.**

Derek walked through the doors to the hospital and immediately made his way to the surgical floor to check the board for Meredith's name. However, he didn't make it far before he found her pulling off her scrub cap as she stepped onto the elevator.

"Hi," she said brightly, "I didn't expect to see you today. Did you get the yard finished?"

"Uh. Yeah," he replied, dropping a chaste kiss to her cheek.

"You look nice," she noted, her eyes roaming over the slacks and buttoned shirt he had on.

"I'm burning up," he shrugged fiddling with the sleeves he had rolled up to his elbows, "I just want to make a good impression."

"Derek, you'll be fine," Meredith sighed reaching up pat his cheek lovingly.

"I'm just not looking forward to doing this without Ainsley there as a buffer," Derek sighed.

Meredith noticed a distinct glimmer in his eye and raised her eyebrows suspiciously before speaking.

"Well this is the last day of day camp, Christopher and Ainsley are excited for the party they're having. We agreed it was better to take her instead of keeping her home," she reminded him.

"I know. I was just thinking I would go ahead and pull Jake and Wyatt out of daycare for the day and take them with me. Cute babies work as nice buffers," he replied, cocking his head and displaying his best McDreamy smile.

"I can't believe you," Meredith feigned annoyance, shaking her head, "go I guess. Remember to remind the daycare they won't be in next week."

It seemed to take Derek a moment to register what she had said before he smiled widely and kissed her roughly. He waved goodbye and bounded away in route to the daycare, knowing he would need to hurry because showing up the airport late was not an option. He picked up the boys quickly, grabbing bags and snapping Wyatt into the carrier as fast as possible before practically running from the hospital to the van. He had already moved car seats around so there was more room in the front of the van, which meant he had to crawl into the third row to buckle in Jacob. However, by the time that both boys were buckled in and he had hopped into the driver seat, he was only running a few minutes late. He drove to the airport as fast as he dared with his two children in the back and pulled into a parking space. After jumping out and grabbing the boys, he made his way into the baggage claim area to meet Ray and June Martin. He found out that the flight had not yet landed and breathed a sigh of relief before finding a place to wait that would be out of the flow of traffic. They had been waiting for nearly half an hour and the boys were starting to get restless. Wyatt seemed to be moments away from a full blown meltdown, and Jacob was refusing to stand, preferring for Derek to hold him. He was juggling a boy on both hips and attempting to calm Wyatt's cries when Ray Martin found him.

"Letting those kids get the best of you?" Ray Martin asked, glaring at Derek.

"We were waiting for a little longer than I anticipated. They're just a little restless," Derek replied, once again trying to shush Wyatt's cries.

"Oh hush Ray," June chastised as she stepped forward, "can I take this little cutie off your hands?"

Derek relinquished is hold on Wyatt and watched as the woman expertly quieted his cries before turning his attention to the whines coming from Jacob.

"How old is he?" June asked, motioning to Wyatt.

"Wyatt is 7 months and Jacob over here just turned 4," Derek answered, "I guess we should head over there to get the bags?"

They made their way toward the baggage conveyor where Derek finally convinced Jacob to walk so that he could grab one of the bags. They made their way back to the van and left the airport in route to the day camp where they would pick up Ainsley and Christopher.

"So where is that granddaughter of mine?" Ray asked from beside Derek.

"Uhhh…she's at a day camp until 3. Today is the last day so they're having a big party. She was so adamant about going that we decided to let her go instead of keeping her home to come with me to pick you up, but we're headed there now to pick up her and Christopher now," Derek explained, attempting to shake off the tension that was building in his body.

They settled into an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before finally June made her presence known.

"So Derek, how do you like having four children now? We only ever had Renee so it amazes me that you are able to run after all of yours. Especially with them all being so young," she asked.

"I absolutely love it," Derek replied, barely able to contain the smile that broke on his face, "it amazes me that they're all so different. Ainsley is so nurturing and helpful. Christopher is wild and adventurous. Jacob is shy and reserved. And then Wyatt is just loud and giggly. But is does get a little crazy sometimes."

"It seems like you have everything under control," June smiled from the backseat.

Suddenly Derek phone rang and he apologized before answering it.

"Hello?" he greeted.

"Hey. So Ma refused to sleep on mine and Lexie's bed because she doesn't like the idea of us sleeping on the pullout," Mark said with a dramatic flourish as if the sky was falling.

"Okay?" Derek replied, failing to see the problem when he had plenty of space at his house.

"I can't pick up Ma," Mark said suddenly, obviously having saved the worst news for last.

"Why not? I told you three weeks ago that I needed you to do this," Derek sighed, barely controlling his annoyance with Mark.

"Emergency surgery. And Lexie is already in the OR and she won't be out for at least a couple of hours," Mark explained.

"Okay. I figure is out. Don't forget, dinner is at 7," Derek sighed before hanging up the phone.

He immediately scrolled to Meredith's number in his contacts and put the phone back to his ear, waiting as the rings sounded through the line.

"Hey. I was just about to call you. I invited Alex to dinner. He just broke up with that girl, so I figured he needed someone to save him from going to Joe's and doing something stupid. I hope that's okay. I guess I should have asked you first. Do we even have enough food for him to come? Although there is a big chance that he won't come anyway," Meredith rambled across the phone.

"Mer?" Derek interrupted, trying to stop her before she really got going.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Is there any chance that you can get off early and go pick up Ma? Mark apparently has some emergency surgery and Lexie is busy," Derek asked.

"I only have an hour left here, so I can probably asked Owen if I can duck out early. It shouldn't be a problem," Meredith answered.

Derek breathed a sigh of relief before quickly getting off the phone, feeling increasingly uncomfortable on the phone in front of his guests. They pulled up to the day camp just as a swarm of kids burst through the door looking for their rides. Ainsley held Christopher's hand as her eyes scanned the crowd, finally finding Derek where he stood on the sidewalk in front of the car. She ran toward him, dragging Christopher behind her before grabbing his waist in a hug.

"Hi daddy," she greeted.

"Hey Princess," he returned before turning to Christopher, "hey buddy."  
>"Hi," Christopher gruffed obviously tired from a long day of sugar and physical activity.<p>

"There are a couple of people in the car that are excited to see you," Derek said, turning to open the door to the back of the van.

Ainsley looked inside and immediately smiled before reaching up to hug the woman in the seat in front of her.

"Hi Oma," she said brightly before seeming to notice the man in the front seat, "hello Opa."

"Hello Ainsley. You've gotten big," the old man greeted, his rough exterior immediately cracking at the sight of the little girl.

After everyone finally settled into their seat, Derek pointed the car toward the house, relieved that Ray Martin was no longer focusing on him.

**Apparently Ainsley's grandparents have German ancestry. I literally was typing along and Oma and Opa were the first grandparent names that came to mind, so that's what we got. Next chapter involves everyone under one roof. Also you'll notice that this chapter is up quickly. The reviews definitely helped me want to write and update quicker, so you know what to do.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Has is seriously been over a month since I last updated? I'm not going to lie; I've been fighting with this chapter. I've rewritten it several times and each time I seemed to hate it more and more. I knew the basic feeling and idea I wanted to get across, but everything I wrote sounded super cheesy. I still don't like this chapter. I still think it's super cheesy, but I decided I would post it because maybe I'm just frustrated with it and it's not as bad as I think. Whatever. At least you can probably tell what I was going for…**

Ainsley pulled Ray behind her as she marched purposely through the mass of people that had gathered in the Shepherd's backyard. A large group of Ainsley's school friends ran wild and their parents stood scattered amongst the hospital staff that made up her extended family. They stopped in front of Mark, who was talking to Jackson with Sean strapped to his chest. Ainsley moved forward tickling Sean's feet where the hung from the carrier before throwing her arms around Mark's waist.

"Opa, this is my Uncle Mark. He works at the hospital with daddy and Meredith, but he's known daddy for a loooooong time. They're brothers," she introduced with a flourish. Mark reached out to shake the older man's hand.

"Not by blood, but his mom practically raised me. You must be Mr. Martin," Mark greeted.

"Call me Ray," he replied turning toward Jackson expectantly.

He fumbled for only a moment before thrusting his hand forward, "Jackson."

"He works at the hospital too. He's Uncle Mark's 'plastics guy'" Ainsley added shrugging at the meaning of that particular title.

Ray wasn't able to respond because she was once again pulling him across the yard. Alex had just arrived and was looking more that a little out of place in the midst of a group of parents, looking longingly at Mark and Jackson. Ainsley made a beeline for him arriving next to him in mere seconds.

"Come here," Ainsley said grabbing Alex's hand and back tracking away from the group.

"Thanks," he gruffed, "I got cornered by the parents of your friend I gave the Appy to."

Ainsley raised her hand accepting a fist bump and a one armed hug, before turning to Ray.

"This is Uncle Alex. He's not really my uncle, but he's still a really good one. He works at the hospital too, but he fixes little kids like me," she introduced watching as Alex shook Ray's hand.

As they parted, Ray looked at Ainsley with a look of confusion evident in his features.

"Ainsley?" he started, causing her to stop and turn toward him.

"Yeah," she returned.

"You sure have a lot of aunts and uncles. How many siblings does your daddy have?" he asked, moving to sit on a chair near the deck.

"Ummm...well Aunt Lexie is really mommy's sister. And then Aunt Kathleen, and Aunt Nancy, and Aunt Amy are really daddy's sisters, but I like them all like they were real," Ainsley replied.

Ray winced slightly at the word "mommy" only because he wasn't quite used to it, but quickly recovered, pulling her hand into his much larger one.

"I'm glad you have so many people who care about you Ainsley," Ray smiled, patting her hand lightly.

"Well I don't think Christina likes us. But Uncle Owen is fun," she shrugged.

Ray laughed, a chuckle that seemed to settle in his belly but never twist his features.

"Opa, I'm want to go play with my friends now," she explained, "is that okay?"

"By all means, I don't know why you've been hanging around an old coot like me anyhow," he replied, real easing her hand and settling back into the chair. Ainsley smiled before disappearing into the sea of party guests, leaving Ray alone to ponder his thoughts. Meanwhile, Meredith stood in the kitchen dumping packages of hotdogs onto a platter to deliver to Owen at the grill. June Martin walked cautiously through the back door, sliding it closed behind her effectively deafening the sounds of the party outside.

"Can I do anything to help you? I feel like you're missing out on the festivities," she said as she closed the distance between them.

"Oh, I don't mind. We could go to a party place or something, but they love this land so much that we fall back on having it here every time," Meredith sighed with a smile.

"Still I feel like I should do something. you'll be able to join the party sooner if I help you," June insisted.

"Well, I need to put those chips in those bowls," Meredith shrugged, motioning to a few bags of chips and bowls on the counter.

They worked quietly for a moment until June finally broke the silence.

"So, Ainsley seems to be very find of you," she said.

"Yeah, we're very close," Meredith agreed, "she's easy to get along with."

"Meredith, I like you. We're just worried about Ainsley, I hope you understand why we're hesitating on this," she sighed, finally saying what she'd wanted to say since they had arrived.

"I understand because I want what's best for her too, but did you ever think that maybe this is what's best for her? Derek and I...we didn't push her into this. She came to us because she wants this," Meredith replied, turning to face the older woman.

"We don't want her to forget Renee. We may not have agreed with her decisions when it came to Ainsley, but she was still her mother," June explained.

"That could never happen. Ainsley knows who her mother was. She asks Derek about her all the time and he tells her the few things he knows. They only met once so he's got very few memories, but he tries. And she has you to remind her,"

Meredith assured her smiling slightly at June.

June wiped away the moisture that had pooled in the corners of her eyes and smiled back.

"Well, I better deliver these before we have a bunch of hungry kids stomping around the yard," Meredith said finally motioning toward the tray in her hands.

June watched her disappear through the door before finally returning to the party.

In another part of the yard, Derek walked quickly by Mark, grabbing a fistful of his t-shirt at the shoulder and dragging him across the lawn to a secluded spot away from the party.

"Umm. Ow," Mark whined, rubbing a nonexistent pain in his shoulder.

"I need you to stop acting like yourself for an hour," Derek chastised.

"What?!" Mark exclaimed before a stern glare from Derek forced him to change his volume, "what?"

"I heard you telling one of those school mothers about the time I got arrested in college," Derek explained, his eyes shooting daggers toward Mark.

"What? It's a funny story," Mark chuckled ignoring Derek's obvious annoyance.

"My daughter's grandparents are here and I'm trying to convince them that I am responsible enough to make decisions regarding my child's future. Don't you think hearing that their granddaughter's father, who they already don't really like, got arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct after running naked through the middle of a college campus? A dare I might add that was initiated by their granddaughter's uncle?" Derek asked, his face moving from frustration to disbelief that he was actually having to explain this to Mark.

"It could have been worse. I could have told them about the time you decided to race your motorcycle on the highway and busted your forehead open," Mark shot, a slight smirk curling the corner of his mouth.

"Okay. Let me put it this way. You under no circumstances are to talk about anything that happened in college unless it involved me studying for hours on end or helping your sorry ass pass your classes," Derek said his hand cutting downward to set a clear boundary.

"So the time you went and took my Biology test for me because I was still drunk from the night before is fair game? After all, you did help me pass that class," Mark replied, a distinct twinkle in his eye.

Derek simply glared, his blue eyes turning stormy and his ears tinting a dark shade of red.

"Okay. Okay. I'll be a perfect little angel. I won't mention any of our less than savory shenanigans. In fact I will paint you as the perfect friend and brother known to man. When I get done with you, you'll have a halo and wings," Mark agreed, bringing his hand into a salute before bringing it down to smack Derek's shoulder.

Derek shook his head and watched at Mark made his way back to the party, shooting up a silent prayer that Mark could be less like himself for a few hours.

**So there it is. I like the third section the best, but as a whole I just don't like it. I'm not making any promises for the next update because I'm not sure when I'll have time to write again. Hopefully I can finish out this story before the New Year though! Please hit that button down there and leave a few words even if you are just agreeing with me about the cheese in this chapter!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Yeah. New chapter. Like forever from the last one, but still...yeah. I wanted to keep it light because we're coming to an end on this installment to the series. Don't worry though; I'll be opening back up **_**How Did We Get Here? **_**and probably eventually starting another story in this series. I'm not really sure where it'll be going yet, but I'm in love with these kids and I'm not ready for it to be over yet. Without further ado, here we go...**

By the time the presents had been opened and cake and ice cream were consumed, Ainsley was all but falling over in her exhaustion. She leaned dutifully against Derek leg, one hand wrapped around his waist and the other handing goody bags to each party guest as they walked toward their cars. When the last child had been led through the door, leaving only the extended family, Derek leaned down to scoop Ainsley into his arms.

"You're getting too big to be carried," Derek groaned dramatically making Ainsley giggle lightly.

"Maybe you're getting old," she joked back shooting him the apparently genetic McDreamy smirk.

"Ouch," he feigned hurt as he fell on to the couch next to Mark, settling Ainsley on his lap.

He looked at the grand array of faces scattered amongst the living room furniture. Meredith and Christina were whispering conspiratorially at the breakfast bar while Christina gave Wyatt his bedtime bottle and Meredith held a sleeping Sean. Mark and Owen occupied the end of the couch and an armchair and seemed to be arguing over the merits of some type of surgery technique while Christopher interrupted them with ridiculous questions from the arm of Owen's chair. Jacob and Kennedy were playing with blocks on the floor with a look of concentration only a very serious design could require. Alex was being interrogated by Mrs. Shepherd about his most recent break-up because in her words "she seemed like a perfectly lovely girl and you need to stop sabotaging every relationship that starts to get a little serious." He always thought it was amazing how easily his mom took in their friends as her own. He saw a lot of her in Meredith and that was maybe why he didn't kick the strays out of the old house even when after they had Christopher all those years ago. He was suddenly aware that he was wearing an extremely dopey grin on his face when Ray came over to him asking to talk. Derek gulped nervously, but quickly shifted Ainsley onto the couch where she promptly leaned her head against Mark's shoulder and closed her eyes, before following him onto the back patio. Silence settled over them, their breathing the only sound, as they moved across the porch settling in near the guardrail away from the back door.

"Do you want a beer Ray?" Derek asked motioning to the cooler nest to the grill that had not yet been unloaded.

"Yeah, sure. One won't hurt me, just don't tell my wife. She worries about me drinking at my age," Ray replied.

Derek moved to the cooler, extracting two bottles from the ice and pulling off the tops before handing on to Ray.

"I talked to Ainsley today. She seems to really like having all of these people in her life. Your coworkers," Ray started.

"Yeah. It's nice to have so many people around that care about our kids. I know that at a moment's notice any one of them will be there to help, or babysit, or buy disgusting fundraiser cookie dough," Derek chuckled at his own joke before Ray's unamused expression sobered him.

"You've built a great life for her here. We can't deny that. She has a more loving and stable environment here than my daughter could have ever given her," Ray continued.

Derek looked at the old man before him. He noticed the way his brow creased when he said something a serious, a trait he had noticed in Ainsley. He looked closer and saw Ainsley's jaw and the way her nose seemed to turn up the slightest amount at the bottom. Her nose always made him think of the word cute, but on the grown man it made him look slightly more menacing, like he was constantly judging him.

"We still want to get to know Meredith. We want to know the woman who is raising our granddaughter. And we want to arrange something permanent with her visiting us or us coming here every year. We really don't want to lose her again Derek," Ray said before taking a slow drag from the bottle in his hand.

"What are you saying?" Derek sputtered, nearly knocking the bottle off the rail where he had set it turned quickly to face him.

"We aren't going to stop the adoption. We'll sign your damn papers and let you get this thing going, but I'm serious Derek. I do not intend to let you keep my granddaughter from me," Ray gruffed before draining the last of the liquid from the bottle.

"We would never dream of doing that. You're the only link she has to Renee now.

Ray nodded once more before moving silently toward the back door, leaving Derek standing in near shock on the porch.

It wasn't until later that night after everyone had gone home that Derek got a chance to tell Meredith what Ray had said.

"I had an interesting talk with Ray," he said as he stripped off his clothes and pulled on a pair of pajama pants.

"Uh huh," Meredith said absent mindedly as she flipped through the pictures that had been taken throughout the day.

"He said that they are going to sign the papers. They aren't going to fight the adoption, but they want to make sure we keep Ainsley in their lives," Derek explained as he turned to face Meredith.

It seemed to take a moment for Meredith to grasp the reality of what he said before she set the camera in her lap and looked at him.

"They're going to let me adopt her?" she tried to confirm as she stared at Derek from the bed.

"Yes. They're going to let you adopt her," Derek confirmed.

Meredith was out of the bed in seconds launching herself at Derek and kissing him roughly. He felt her smile through the kiss before he pulled away taking in her wide grin and the sparkles that were radiating from her eyes.

"I know it's Ainsley's birthday, but I feel like I was just given the best present in the entire world," Meredith beamed as she reached up to kiss him again.

"I feel the same way," Derek replied after they had again broken the kiss.

Suddenly a knock at the door pulled them from their moment, and Meredith moved to open the door. On the other side stood a bleary-eyed Ainsley in her pink nightgown, clutching her stuffed dog and rubbing her eye.

"I had a bad dream," she whined before walking into Meredith's arms and wrapping her hand tightly around her waist.

"Probably all that sugar daddy gave you," Meredith shot at Derek who held his hands up in feigned innocence, "do you want to lay down in here with us for a while?"

Ainsley nodded against Meredith's stomach and she led her to the bed, settling her in the middle before crawling in and facing her.

"Alright. Close your eyes and try to go back to sleep," Meredith soothed, placing her hand on Ainsley's cheek and rubbing her thumb gently along the smooth skin.

Derek smiled at the pair of them before crawling in behind Ainsley and kissing the back of her head gently. His fingers moved to the ends of her hair where he twisted a ringlet around her finger, careful not to pull, and then watched it spring back to its former position. She was asleep again within minutes and Meredith sighed contentedly while she looked across at him.

"I like this. Knowing that everything isn't up in the air anymore, that we can finally get this done and we don't have to worry about Ray and June trying to postpone it," Meredith said as she smoothed a wayward curl away from Ainsley's face.

"I feel like we've been searching for the final piece to some elaborate puzzle for the past few years and we just finally found it under the rug. I can't wait to finally press it into the hole and look at it all completed," Derek replied.

"Derek I'm really happy," Meredith said behind a yawn as her eyes began to droop.

"Me too," he agreed before the sleep finally took them away.

**Like I said, I wanted light and fluffy. I felt like it was time to finally leave this family alone. Like Meredith said in a previous chapter, they're constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop and I think sometimes we just need fluffy stuff. Let me know what you thought and now that I'm opening back up the **_**How Did We Get Here? **_**prequel, that I abandoned due to time constraints, I'm taking requests. Want a particular Grey's moment rewritten for this universe? Leave it in a review. Have an idea for a fun way to merge the two universes? Leave it in the reviews. Want to tell me how much you love puzzles? Weird...but you can still do it in a review.**


	29. Chapter 29

**I'm not even going to lie; I have not wanted to write. I was still in holiday mode way past the cut-off time. I was drunk on family and my husband being home for an abnormal amount of time and I was just like I could write today; or I could help Jude and Riles build a fort out of pillows or snuggle on the couch with the hubby and watch movies. So I finally after getting some notifications in the past week or so decided I really needed to finish the story. So, here is the last chapter.**

Meredith and Derek sat silently outside the courtroom, working in tandem to keep the children occupied and quiet in the ominous building. John Hayes sat across from them, double checking the paperwork in the folder in front of him.

It had taken patience to get to this point. They only needed to make it through this finalization hearing and they would finally be at the end of the journey. Derek had just pulled a bottle out of the bag to give to Wyatt when their case was called. He shot a nervous smile at Meredith before helping to wrangle the kids and filing into the room. John told Derek to sit in the first row of seats behind the gate before leading Meredith to a table in front of them. John had only just begun to open the case file and organize his papers when a woman took a seat at the bench. She had short hair, turned white with age, and stern looking brown eyes, but the smile lines around her mouth suggested she was not as serious as she seemed. She placed a folder on the table in front of her before her eyes moved to run over the faces before her.

"I am Judge Hammet. This is the final hearing in the adoption of the minor Ainsley Rae Shepherd by a Mrs. Meredith Grey-Shepherd?" she confirmed.

John nodded.

"Okay. Am I to understand that Mrs. Grey-Shepherd is Ainsley's step-mother?" she continued.

"Yes, your honor. The biological mother passed tragically a couple of years ago," John replied.

"This obviously seems like a pretty open-and-shut case. Everyone seems to be on board with the decision," she stated.

"Yes. The living parents of her mother have given consent and her father also," John replied.

"I don't want to drag this out any more than I have to, however in all cases it is important that I speak with the concerned parties," she said, looking intently at the family gathered in front of her.

"We understand," John assured with a nod.

"I'd like to start with Ainsley," she said motioning the small girl forward.

Derek squeezed her shoulder slightly and gave her a smile before watching as she stood and took a step forward, coming to stand next to the table.

"Ainsley, I need you to understand that in this courtroom you must tell the truth. Do you understand that?" Judge Hammet asked.

"Yes mam," she replied.

"Alright. Do you know what is happening here today?" the judge questioned.

"Yes mam. You're going to decide if my mommy can adopt me for real," Ainsley replied, confidence radiating from her.

"That's right. Do you know what adoption means?" Judge Hammet asked.

"Yup. That means that mommy gets to be my real mommy," Ainsley answered.

"That's right. You are a very smart girl," Judge Hammet noted with a smile.

"Thank you," Ainsley replied, with a shy smile.

"I have just one more question for you. Do you want Meredith to adopt you?" she asked.

"Oh yes mam. Meredith is very nice, even nicer than my other mom ever was. And I know she loves me because she tells me she does, and I love her too," Ainsley answered with a bright smile on her face.

"Thank you Ainsley," the judge said with a smile, "I have a couple of questions for the father, Derek Shepherd."

Derek stood and turned to the judge with a sheepish smile motioning to Wyatt, "do you mind if I carry him up there? He's asleep so I don't want to transfer him and wake him up."

"This is not a formal court Mr. Shepherd, it's fine," she answered.

Derek moved to stand in the spot only recently vacated my Ainsley. His hand was on Wyatt's back and he rubbed absentmindedly, listening to the gently breaths of the sleeping baby in his ear.

"Mr. Shepherd, you have given permission for your wife to adopt Ainsley?" the judge confirmed.

"Yes. Of course," Derek replied.

"You are aware that this will give her the ability to make medical and legal decisions for your daughter?" she asked.

"With all due respect your honor, she's OUR daughter. She has been for a few years now, and Meredith may not have been able to execute the decisions, but she has been making decisions for that little girl since she came to live with us," Derek answered.

"Alright. Why do you feel that Mrs. Grey-Shepherd will make a good adoptive mother to Ainsley?" she continued.

"Meredith is the most amazing woman I know. She's selfless when it comes to our children. I was not allowed to be a part of Ainsley's life when she was younger. I didn't actually find out that she existed until a few years ago, but Meredith didn't run when we suddenly had a little girl to take care of, she accepted her with open arms. My wife has never looked at Ainsley as my daughter. Like I said before, she has always been our daughter, and so this piece of paper is just a formality. Meredith is her mother," Derek answered.

Judge Hammet stared Derek for several moments, seemingly at a loss for words after his passionate speech. She nodded and Derek smiled slightly before returning to his seat.

"Well, after that speech I don't think I have any more questions. It's obvious in this case that the child is loved and well cared for and so I would like Mrs. Grey-Shepherd to stand," Judge Hammet explained.

Meredith shot a quick smile over her shoulder at Ainsley before standing.

"Meredith Grey-Shepherd. Do you pledge to honor the agreement of this court? To care for the minor Ainsley Rae Shepherd as if she were your own?" the judge started.

"Of course," Meredith replied, tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"Do you promise to take care of the minor Ainsley Rae Shepherd in the event that her father becomes unable to?" she continued.

"Yes," Meredith answered.

"Do you promise that from this point forward, you will become a mother to the minor Ainsley Rae Shepherd?" she asked.

"I do," Meredith said as the tears finally began to slide down her face.

"Then it is the decision of this court to grant the motion. Congratulations Mrs. Grey-Shepherd, Ainsley is now officially your daughter," Judge Hammet finished with a smile.

Ainsley was in Meredith's arms immediately with Derek and the boys not far behind. They held each other for several moments before finally Derek broke away.

"Now that it's official, I think we need to celebrate," he said with a wide smile.

The family exited the courtroom and made their way out of the building. Relishing in their happy moment.

**That is it. If you have dealt with the adoption process and are like that is not right, well I apologize, I just went with how I would want it to happen. I want to say thank you for sticking with this story. It's taken awhile for me to get through this one, but reading all of your lovely reviews has made it much easier. Going forward...I figured out what I'm doing for the sequel, but I am not ready to write it yet, so it will be awhile. I'm still open to suggestions for **_**How Did We Get Here?**_** so if you want to see something, let me know. Please review.**


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